diff --git a/lib/libalpm/be_package.c b/lib/libalpm/be_package.c
index 5ca2865c..55f02289 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/be_package.c
+++ b/lib/libalpm/be_package.c
@@ -248,6 +248,8 @@ static int parse_descfile(alpm_handle_t *handle, struct archive *a, alpm_pkg_t *
 				/* deprecated, skip it */
 			} else if(strcmp(key, "makepkgopt") == 0) {
 				/* not used atm */
+			} else if(strcmp(key, "pkgtype") == 0) {
+				/* not used atm */
 			} else {
 				_alpm_log(handle, ALPM_LOG_DEBUG, "%s: unknown key '%s' in description file line %d\n",
 									newpkg->name ? newpkg->name : "error", key, linenum);
diff --git a/scripts/makepkg.sh.in b/scripts/makepkg.sh.in
index 3c7977db..18c5c24f 100644
--- a/scripts/makepkg.sh.in
+++ b/scripts/makepkg.sh.in
@@ -601,6 +601,7 @@ write_pkginfo() {
 
 	write_kv_pair "pkgname" "$pkgname"
 	write_kv_pair "pkgbase" "$pkgbase"
+	write_kv_pair "pkgtype" "$pkgtype"
 
 	local fullver=$(get_full_version)
 	write_kv_pair "pkgver" "$fullver"
@@ -681,6 +682,8 @@ list_package_files() {
 create_package() {
 	(( NOARCHIVE )) && return 0
 
+	pkgtype=${pkgtype:-pkg}
+
 	if [[ ! -d $pkgdir ]]; then
 		error "$(gettext "Missing %s directory.")" "\$pkgdir/"
 		plainerr "$(gettext "Aborting...")"
@@ -765,6 +768,7 @@ create_debug_package() {
 
 	pkgdesc="Detached debugging symbols for $pkgname"
 	pkgname=$pkgbase-@DEBUGSUFFIX@
+	pkgtype=debug
 
 	create_package
 }
@@ -775,6 +779,8 @@ create_srcpackage() {
 	local srclinks="$(mktemp -d "$startdir"/srclinks.XXXXXXXXX)"
 	mkdir "${srclinks}"/${pkgbase}
 
+	pkgtype=src
+
 	msg2 "$(gettext "Adding %s...")" "$BUILDSCRIPT"
 	ln -s "${BUILDFILE}" "${srclinks}/${pkgbase}/${BUILDSCRIPT}"
 
@@ -950,6 +956,9 @@ run_single_packaging() {
 
 run_split_packaging() {
 	local pkgname_backup=("${pkgname[@]}")
+	# We might run this function when we only have package_pkgname
+	# and we don't want that marked as a split package
+	(( ${#pkgname[@]} > 1 )) && pkgtype=split
 	backup_package_variables
 	for pkgname in ${pkgname_backup[@]}; do
 		run_single_packaging $pkgname