diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 63eb955e..c16eb7d1 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ ostree (2016.7-1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
 
   * New upstream version
     - drop all patches, applied upstream
+    - build-depend on libsystemd (unconditionally, because this package is
+      Linux-specific already)
   * d/p/Makefile-tests.am-make-check-uses-the-built-binaries.patch:
     add patch from upstream to make sure we use the built binaries for
     build-time testing
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 39a71f23..b9ad1efd 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ Build-Depends:
  libmount-dev (>= 2.23),
  libselinux1-dev,
  libsoup2.4-dev (>= 2.39.1),
+ libsystemd-dev,
  procps,
  zlib1g-dev,
 Standards-Version: 3.9.8