diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/emacs/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/emacs/package.py
index cd82dcb75f..d073157826 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/emacs/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/emacs/package.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class Emacs(AutotoolsPackage, GNUMirrorPackage):
     depends_on('ncurses')
     depends_on('pcre')
     depends_on('zlib')
+    depends_on('libxml2')
     depends_on('libtiff', when='+X')
     depends_on('libpng', when='+X')
     depends_on('libxpm', when='+X')