diff --git a/config/functions b/config/functions
index 00fdfaa2a1..8d6bb0734b 100644
--- a/config/functions
+++ b/config/functions
@@ -171,6 +171,11 @@ get_pkg_variable() {
   fi
 }
 
+# return 0 if $2 in space-separated list $1, otherwise return 1
+listcontains() {
+  [[ ${1} =~ (^|[[:space:]])${2}($|[[:space:]]) ]] && return 0 || return 1
+}
+
 install_binary_addon() {
   local addon_name="$1" addon_id="$2" addon_so
 
diff --git a/packages/virtual/virtual/package.mk b/packages/virtual/virtual/package.mk
index b0ec88d911..ccb987fee3 100644
--- a/packages/virtual/virtual/package.mk
+++ b/packages/virtual/virtual/package.mk
@@ -32,8 +32,4 @@ PKG_AUTORECONF="no"
 
 get_graphicdrivers
 
-for drv in $GRAPHIC_DRIVERS; do
-  if [ "$drv" = "vmware" ]; then
-    PKG_DEPENDS_TARGET="$PKG_DEPENDS_TARGET open-vm-tools"
-  fi
-done
+listcontains "$GRAPHIC_DRIVERS" "vmware" && PKG_DEPENDS_TARGET+=" open-vm-tools"