diff --git a/scripts/checkdeps b/scripts/checkdeps
index 86c3b6d3da..b8fa6f10b6 100755
--- a/scripts/checkdeps
+++ b/scripts/checkdeps
@@ -48,6 +48,14 @@ case $1 in
     ;;
 esac
 
+# project specific dependencies
+if [ -n "$EXTRA_DEPS" ] ; then
+  deps="$deps $EXTRA_DEPS"
+fi
+if [ -n "$EXTRA_DEPS_PKG" ] ; then
+  deps_pkg="$deps_pkg $EXTRA_DEPS_PKG"
+fi
+
 getarg() {
   eval echo \${$(($1+2))}
 }