diff --git a/package/busybox/busybox.mk b/package/busybox/busybox.mk
index fe36cb3918..6351869330 100644
--- a/package/busybox/busybox.mk
+++ b/package/busybox/busybox.mk
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ BUSYBOX_LDFLAGS = \
 
 # Packages that provide commands that may also be busybox applets:
 BUSYBOX_DEPENDENCIES = \
+	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_CPIO),cpio) \
 	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_DCRON),dcron) \
 	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_DEBIANUTILS),debianutils) \
 	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_DIFFUTILS),diffutils) \
diff --git a/package/cpio/cpio.mk b/package/cpio/cpio.mk
index 7e8549dbd8..9a09279572 100644
--- a/package/cpio/cpio.mk
+++ b/package/cpio/cpio.mk
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 CPIO_VERSION = 2.12
 CPIO_SITE = $(BR2_GNU_MIRROR)/cpio
 CPIO_CONF_OPTS = --bindir=/bin
-CPIO_DEPENDENCIES = $(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX),busybox)
 CPIO_LICENSE = GPL-3.0+
 CPIO_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING