diff --git a/contrib/debian/control b/contrib/debian/control
index ad303e34c..4b5bc8237 100644
--- a/contrib/debian/control
+++ b/contrib/debian/control
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ Build-Depends: debhelper-compat (= 13),
  gettext,
  libpcre2-dev,
  rustc (>= 1.85) | rustc-web (>= 1.85) | rustc-1.85,
+# pkg-config is needed for the pcre2 crate to find the pcre2 system library
+ pkgconf | pkg-config,
  python3-sphinx,
 # Test dependencies
  locales-all,
diff --git a/fish.spec.in b/fish.spec.in
index c4f922dff..2e66c2190 100644
--- a/fish.spec.in
+++ b/fish.spec.in
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ BuildRequires:          /usr/bin/sphinx-build
 # OBS: add eg "FileProvides: /usr/bin/sphinx-build python3-sphinx python3-Sphinx" to project config
 BuildRequires:          /usr/bin/man
 # OBS: add eg "FileProvides: /usr/bin/man man-db man" to project config
+# pkg-config is needed for the pcre2 crate to find the pcre2 system librar
+BuildRequires:          /usr/bin/pkg-config
+# OBS: add eg "FileProvides: /usr/bin/pkg-config pkgconf-pkg-config pkg-config" to project config
 BuildRequires: cmake >= 3.15
 
 # for tests