diff --git a/scripts/build/termux_extract_dep_info.sh b/scripts/build/termux_extract_dep_info.sh
index 49d3be7d2..c596edf93 100755
--- a/scripts/build/termux_extract_dep_info.sh
+++ b/scripts/build/termux_extract_dep_info.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ termux_extract_dep_info() {
 			TERMUX_PKG_PLATFORM_INDEPENDENT=""
 			source ${PKG_DIR}/build.sh
 			TERMUX_SUBPKG_PLATFORM_INDEPENDENT=$TERMUX_PKG_PLATFORM_INDEPENDENT
-			source ${PKG_DIR}/${PKG}.subpackage.sh
+			if [ "$TERMUX_INSTALL_DEPS" = false ] || [ -n "${TERMUX_PKG_NO_DEVELSPLIT}" ] || [ "${PKG/-dev/}-dev" != "${PKG}" ]; then
+				source ${PKG_DIR}/${PKG}.subpackage.sh
+			fi
 			if [ "$TERMUX_SUBPKG_PLATFORM_INDEPENDENT" = yes ]; then
 				echo all
 			else
diff --git a/scripts/build/termux_step_start_build.sh b/scripts/build/termux_step_start_build.sh
index 6ef4b86f8..442ac3023 100644
--- a/scripts/build/termux_step_start_build.sh
+++ b/scripts/build/termux_step_start_build.sh
@@ -42,15 +42,6 @@ termux_step_start_build() {
 				)
 			fi
 
-			if termux_download_deb $PKG-dev $DEP_ARCH $DEP_VERSION; then
-				(
-					cd $TERMUX_COMMON_CACHEDIR-$DEP_ARCH
-					ar x $PKG-dev_${DEP_VERSION}_${DEP_ARCH}.deb data.tar.xz
-					tar xf data.tar.xz --no-overwrite-dir -C /
-				)
-			else
-				echo "Download of $PKG-dev@$DEP_VERSION from $TERMUX_REPO_URL failed"
-			fi
 			mkdir -p /data/data/.built-packages
 			echo "$DEP_VERSION" > "/data/data/.built-packages/$PKG"
 		done<<<$(./scripts/buildorder.py -i "$TERMUX_PKG_BUILDER_DIR" $TERMUX_PACKAGES_DIRECTORIES || echo "ERROR")
diff --git a/scripts/buildorder.py b/scripts/buildorder.py
index ae5a03812..afc492109 100755
--- a/scripts/buildorder.py
+++ b/scripts/buildorder.py
@@ -45,13 +45,19 @@ def parse_build_file_dependencies(path):
                 for dependency_value in re.split(',|\\|', dependencies_string):
                     # Replace parenthesis to ignore version qualifiers as in "gcc (>= 5.0)":
                     dependency_value = re.sub(r'\(.*?\)', '', dependency_value).strip()
-                    # Handle dependencies on *-dev packages:
-                    dependency_value = re.sub('-dev$', '', dependency_value)
 
                     dependencies.append(dependency_value)
 
     return set(dependencies)
 
+def develsplit(path):
+    with open(path, encoding="utf-8") as build_script:
+        for line in build_script:
+            if line.startswith('TERMUX_PKG_NO_DEVELSPLIT'):
+                return False
+
+    return True
+
 class TermuxPackage(object):
     "A main package definition represented by a directory with a build.sh file."
     def __init__(self, dir_path, fast_build_mode):
@@ -80,6 +86,11 @@ class TermuxPackage(object):
             self.subpkgs.append(subpkg)
             self.deps |= subpkg.deps
 
+        if develsplit(build_sh_path):
+            subpkg = TermuxSubPackage(self.dir + '/' + self.name + '-dev' + '.subpackage.sh', self, virtual=True)
+            self.subpkgs.append(subpkg)
+            self.deps.add(subpkg.name)
+
         # Do not depend on itself
         self.deps.discard(self.name)
         # Do not depend on any sub package
@@ -102,13 +113,16 @@ class TermuxPackage(object):
 
 class TermuxSubPackage:
     "A sub-package represented by a ${PACKAGE_NAME}.subpackage.sh file."
-    def __init__(self, subpackage_file_path, parent):
+    def __init__(self, subpackage_file_path, parent, virtual=False):
         if parent is None:
             raise Exception("SubPackages should have a parent")
 
         self.name = os.path.basename(subpackage_file_path).split('.subpackage.sh')[0]
         self.parent = parent
-        self.deps = parse_build_file_dependencies(subpackage_file_path)
+        if virtual:
+            self.deps = set([parent.name])
+        else:
+            self.deps = parse_build_file_dependencies(subpackage_file_path)
         self.dir = parent.dir
 
         self.needed_by = set()  # Populated outside constructor, reverse of deps.