diff --git a/Config.in b/Config.in
index bcfefc79f9..8afd156cbc 100644
--- a/Config.in
+++ b/Config.in
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ config BR2_EXTERNAL
 	string
 	option env="BR2_EXTERNAL"
 
+# Hidden boolean selected by packages in need of Java in order to build
+# (example: xbmc)
+config BR2_HOST_NEEDS_JAVA
+	bool
+
 # Hidden boolean selected by pre-built packages for x86, when they
 # need to run on x86-64 machines (example: pre-built external
 # toolchains, binary tools like SAM-BA, etc.).
diff --git a/support/dependencies/dependencies.sh b/support/dependencies/dependencies.sh
index 0e7e1fa047..a965c6882a 100755
--- a/support/dependencies/dependencies.sh
+++ b/support/dependencies/dependencies.sh
@@ -191,6 +191,14 @@ if grep -q ^BR2_PACKAGE_CLASSPATH=y $BR2_CONFIG ; then
 	done
 fi
 
+if grep -q ^BR2_HOST_NEEDS_JAVA=y $BR2_CONFIG ; then
+	if ! which java > /dev/null ; then
+		echo >&2
+		echo "You must install 'java' on your build machine" >&2
+		exit 1
+	fi
+fi
+
 if grep -q ^BR2_HOSTARCH_NEEDS_IA32_LIBS=y $BR2_CONFIG ; then
 	if test ! -f /lib/ld-linux.so.2 ; then
 		echo