diff --git a/package/Config.in b/package/Config.in
index 40f8047d4..39b0801f8 100644
--- a/package/Config.in
+++ b/package/Config.in
@@ -360,8 +360,9 @@ source "package/haserl/Config.in"
 source "package/jamvm/Config.in"
 source "package/jimtcl/Config.in"
 source "package/lua/Config.in"
+source "package/luainterpreter/Config.in"
 source "package/luajit/Config.in"
-if BR2_PACKAGE_LUA || BR2_PACKAGE_LUAJIT
+if BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 menu "Lua libraries/modules"
 source "package/cgilua/Config.in"
 source "package/copas/Config.in"
diff --git a/package/lbase64/Config.in b/package/lbase64/Config.in
index bd8503a16..ca9dd5dac 100644
--- a/package/lbase64/Config.in
+++ b/package/lbase64/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LBASE64
 	bool "lbase64"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  A base64 library for Lua
 
diff --git a/package/lbase64/lbase64.mk b/package/lbase64/lbase64.mk
index 8e360c872..605dcf75b 100644
--- a/package/lbase64/lbase64.mk
+++ b/package/lbase64/lbase64.mk
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ LBASE64_SITE = http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/~lhf/ftp/lua/5.1
 LBASE64_SOURCE = lbase64.tar.gz
 LBASE64_LICENSE = Public domain
 LBASE64_LICENSE_FILES = README
-LBASE64_DEPENDENCIES = lua
+LBASE64_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter
 
 define LBASE64_BUILD_CMDS
        $(MAKE) -C $(@D) $(TARGET_CONFIGURE_OPTS) \
diff --git a/package/lua-ev/Config.in b/package/lua-ev/Config.in
index 4f704ad54..28da114a4 100644
--- a/package/lua-ev/Config.in
+++ b/package/lua-ev/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUA_EV
 	bool "lua-ev"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBEV
 	depends on !(BR2_avr32 || BR2_bfin) # libev
 	help
diff --git a/package/lua-ev/lua-ev.mk b/package/lua-ev/lua-ev.mk
index 173cf0b0a..298bcf2c3 100644
--- a/package/lua-ev/lua-ev.mk
+++ b/package/lua-ev/lua-ev.mk
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 LUA_EV_VERSION = 458165bdfe0c6eadc788813925f11a0e6a823845
 LUA_EV_SITE = $(call github,brimworks,lua-ev,$(LUA_EV_VERSION))
-LUA_EV_DEPENDENCIES = lua libev
+LUA_EV_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter libev
 LUA_EV_LICENSE = MIT
 LUA_EV_LICENSE_FILES = README
 LUA_EV_CONF_OPT = -DINSTALL_CMOD="/usr/lib/lua"
diff --git a/package/lua-msgpack-native/Config.in b/package/lua-msgpack-native/Config.in
index 8894ee535..1014298c7 100644
--- a/package/lua-msgpack-native/Config.in
+++ b/package/lua-msgpack-native/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUA_MSGPACK_NATIVE
 	bool "lua-msgpack-native"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  This is a native, C language implementation of msgpack
 	  (http://msgpack.org) library/protocol for Lua language
diff --git a/package/lua-msgpack-native/lua-msgpack-native.mk b/package/lua-msgpack-native/lua-msgpack-native.mk
index 496f8a815..2c1dede5b 100644
--- a/package/lua-msgpack-native/lua-msgpack-native.mk
+++ b/package/lua-msgpack-native/lua-msgpack-native.mk
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 LUA_MSGPACK_NATIVE_VERSION = 41cce91ab6b54e4426c6d626a0ac41a02ec2096d
 LUA_MSGPACK_NATIVE_SITE = $(call github,kengonakajima,lua-msgpack-native,$(LUA_MSGPACK_NATIVE_VERSION))
-LUA_MSGPACK_NATIVE_DEPENDENCIES = lua
+LUA_MSGPACK_NATIVE_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter
 LUA_MSGPACK_NATIVE_LICENSE = Apache-2.0
 LUA_MSGPACK_NATIVE_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE.txt
 
diff --git a/package/lua/Config.in b/package/lua/Config.in
index 8c05d081e..b96ef0e92 100644
--- a/package/lua/Config.in
+++ b/package/lua/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUA
 	bool "lua"
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  Lua is a powerful, fast, light-weight, embeddable scripting language.
 
@@ -7,6 +8,9 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_LUA
 
 if BR2_PACKAGE_LUA
 
+config BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_LUA_INTERPRETER
+	default "lua"
+
 choice
 	prompt "Lua Interpreter command-line editing"
 	default BR2_PACKAGE_LUA_INTERPRETER_EDITING_NONE
diff --git a/package/luacjson/Config.in b/package/luacjson/Config.in
index 8a5624f75..d3665c012 100644
--- a/package/luacjson/Config.in
+++ b/package/luacjson/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUACJSON
 	bool "luacjson"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  The Lua CJSON module provides JSON support for Lua. It features:
 	  - Fast, standards compliant encoding/parsing routines
diff --git a/package/luacjson/luacjson.mk b/package/luacjson/luacjson.mk
index 1ebb588ac..fcb8a9a75 100644
--- a/package/luacjson/luacjson.mk
+++ b/package/luacjson/luacjson.mk
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 LUACJSON_VERSION       = 2.1.0
 LUACJSON_SOURCE        = lua-cjson-$(LUACJSON_VERSION).tar.gz
 LUACJSON_SITE          = http://www.kyne.com.au/~mark/software/download
-LUACJSON_DEPENDENCIES  = lua
+LUACJSON_DEPENDENCIES  = luainterpreter
 LUACJSON_LICENSE       = MIT
 LUACJSON_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
 
diff --git a/package/luaexpat/Config.in b/package/luaexpat/Config.in
index 186c5c917..f8db318e8 100644
--- a/package/luaexpat/Config.in
+++ b/package/luaexpat/Config.in
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUAEXPAT
 	bool "luaexpat"
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_EXPAT
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  LuaExpat is a SAX XML parser based on the Expat library.
 
diff --git a/package/luaexpat/luaexpat.mk b/package/luaexpat/luaexpat.mk
index 0d73d28f6..65d4355d3 100644
--- a/package/luaexpat/luaexpat.mk
+++ b/package/luaexpat/luaexpat.mk
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 LUAEXPAT_VERSION      = 1.2.0
 LUAEXPAT_SITE         = http://matthewwild.co.uk/projects/luaexpat
-LUAEXPAT_DEPENDENCIES = lua expat
+LUAEXPAT_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter expat
 LUAEXPAT_LICENSE      = MIT
 
 
diff --git a/package/luafilesystem/Config.in b/package/luafilesystem/Config.in
index 7c130f8d3..489ebf359 100644
--- a/package/luafilesystem/Config.in
+++ b/package/luafilesystem/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUAFILESYSTEM
 	bool "luafilesystem"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  LuaFileSystem offers a portable way to access
 	  the underlying directory structure and file attributes.
diff --git a/package/luafilesystem/luafilesystem.mk b/package/luafilesystem/luafilesystem.mk
index c75d7a7cc..c928c6ee5 100644
--- a/package/luafilesystem/luafilesystem.mk
+++ b/package/luafilesystem/luafilesystem.mk
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 LUAFILESYSTEM_VERSION = 1.6.2
 LUAFILESYSTEM_SITE = http://github.com/downloads/keplerproject/luafilesystem
-LUAFILESYSTEM_DEPENDENCIES = lua
+LUAFILESYSTEM_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter
 LUAFILESYSTEM_LICENSE = MIT
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_LARGEFILE),y)
diff --git a/package/luainterpreter/Config.in b/package/luainterpreter/Config.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..15621452d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/package/luainterpreter/Config.in
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+config BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
+	bool
+
+config BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_LUA_INTERPRETER
+	string
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
diff --git a/package/luainterpreter/luainterpreter.mk b/package/luainterpreter/luainterpreter.mk
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..04d63d471
--- /dev/null
+++ b/package/luainterpreter/luainterpreter.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#############################################################
+#
+# luainterpreter
+#
+#############################################################
+
+LUAINTERPRETER_SOURCE =
+LUAINTERPRETER_DEPENDENCIES = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_LUA_INTERPRETER))
+
+$(eval $(generic-package))
diff --git a/package/luajit/Config.in b/package/luajit/Config.in
index 23b265049..e0bfbf550 100644
--- a/package/luajit/Config.in
+++ b/package/luajit/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUAJIT
 	bool "luajit"
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	# Luajit is only available for some target architectures, and
 	# has some complexity wrt 32/64. See luajit.mk for details.
 	depends on BR2_i386 || (BR2_x86_64 && BR2_HOSTARCH='x86_64') || BR2_powerpc || BR2_arm || BR2_armeb
@@ -10,3 +11,10 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_LUAJIT
 	  deployed as a drop-in replacement.
 
 	  http://luajit.org/
+
+if BR2_PACKAGE_LUAJIT
+
+config BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_LUA_INTERPRETER
+	default "luajit"
+
+endif
diff --git a/package/luaposix/Config.in b/package/luaposix/Config.in
index 598bf111a..cad6fe976 100644
--- a/package/luaposix/Config.in
+++ b/package/luaposix/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUAPOSIX
 	bool "luaposix"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LUABITOP if BR2_PACKAGE_LUA
 	# LuaBitOp is already included in LuaJIT
 	help
diff --git a/package/luaposix/luaposix.mk b/package/luaposix/luaposix.mk
index cbcdf3259..b398c8c98 100644
--- a/package/luaposix/luaposix.mk
+++ b/package/luaposix/luaposix.mk
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ LUAPOSIX_SITE = https://github.com/luaposix/luaposix/archive
 LUAPOSIX_SOURCE = release-v$(LUAPOSIX_VERSION).tar.gz
 LUAPOSIX_LICENSE = MIT
 LUAPOSIX_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
-LUAPOSIX_DEPENDENCIES = lua host-lua
+LUAPOSIX_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter host-lua
 LUAPOSIX_CONF_OPT = --libdir="/usr/lib/lua" --datarootdir="/usr/share/lua"
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_NCURSES),y)
diff --git a/package/luasec/Config.in b/package/luasec/Config.in
index 2d303c184..ed55df73a 100644
--- a/package/luasec/Config.in
+++ b/package/luasec/Config.in
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_LUASEC
 	bool "luasec"
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LUASOCKET
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  LuaSec is a binding for OpenSSL library to provide TLS/SSL
 	  communication.
diff --git a/package/luasec/luasec.mk b/package/luasec/luasec.mk
index 9a99034cb..d89f61dbb 100644
--- a/package/luasec/luasec.mk
+++ b/package/luasec/luasec.mk
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ LUASEC_VERSION = 0.4.1
 LUASEC_SITE = http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~brunoos/luasec/download/
 LUASEC_LICENSE = MIT
 LUASEC_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
-LUASEC_DEPENDENCIES = lua openssl
+LUASEC_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter openssl
 
 define LUASEC_BUILD_CMDS
 	$(MAKE) -C $(@D) CC="$(TARGET_CC)" LD="$(TARGET_CC)" \
diff --git a/package/luasocket/Config.in b/package/luasocket/Config.in
index 45263030f..619d64967 100644
--- a/package/luasocket/Config.in
+++ b/package/luasocket/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUASOCKET
 	bool "luasocket"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  LuaSocket is the most comprehensive networking support library
 	  for the Lua language.
diff --git a/package/luasocket/luasocket.mk b/package/luasocket/luasocket.mk
index 4b01a3e3f..6a2d4c8b6 100644
--- a/package/luasocket/luasocket.mk
+++ b/package/luasocket/luasocket.mk
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 LUASOCKET_VERSION = 2.0.2
 LUASOCKET_SITE = http://luaforge.net/frs/download.php/2664
-LUASOCKET_DEPENDENCIES = lua
+LUASOCKET_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter
 LUASOCKET_LICENSE = MIT
 LUASOCKET_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
 
diff --git a/package/luasql/Config.in b/package/luasql/Config.in
index 4dd011a2a..96e04fb82 100644
--- a/package/luasql/Config.in
+++ b/package/luasql/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LUASQL
 	bool "luasql"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  LuaSQL is a simple interface from Lua to a DBMS.
 
diff --git a/package/luasql/luasql.mk b/package/luasql/luasql.mk
index 44ad90d83..62d0cf80f 100644
--- a/package/luasql/luasql.mk
+++ b/package/luasql/luasql.mk
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ LUASQL_VERSION = v2.3.0
 LUASQL_SITE = $(call github,keplerproject,luasql,$(LUASQL_VERSION))
 LUASQL_LICENSE = MIT
 LUASQL_LICENSE_FILES = README
-LUASQL_DEPENDENCIES = lua
+LUASQL_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter
 
 LUASQL_MAKE_FLAGS = \
 	CC="$(TARGET_CC)" \
diff --git a/package/rings/Config.in b/package/rings/Config.in
index d1f1efe55..b1d41f391 100644
--- a/package/rings/Config.in
+++ b/package/rings/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_RINGS
 	bool "rings"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_LUA_INTERPRETER
 	help
 	  Provides a way to create new Lua states from within Lua.
 
diff --git a/package/rings/rings.mk b/package/rings/rings.mk
index a483b6214..47d25b678 100644
--- a/package/rings/rings.mk
+++ b/package/rings/rings.mk
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 RINGS_VERSION = 1.2.3
 RINGS_SITE = http://github.com/downloads/keplerproject/rings
-RINGS_DEPENDENCIES = lua
+RINGS_DEPENDENCIES = luainterpreter
 RINGS_LICENSE = MIT
 
 define RINGS_BUILD_CMDS