diff --git a/package/pkg-virtual.mk b/package/pkg-virtual.mk
index bcb2cadaaa..2e83e077e0 100644
--- a/package/pkg-virtual.mk
+++ b/package/pkg-virtual.mk
@@ -44,7 +44,13 @@ endif
 $(2)_IS_VIRTUAL = YES
 
 # Add dependency against the provider
+# For a host package, there is no corresponding BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_HOST_FOO,
+# so we need to compute it from the target variant.
+ifeq ($(4),target)
 $(2)_DEPENDENCIES += $$(call qstrip,$$(BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_$(2)))
+else
+$(2)_DEPENDENCIES += host-$$(call qstrip,$$(BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_$(3)))
+endif
 
 # Call the generic package infrastructure to generate the necessary
 # make targets