diff --git a/lib/order.c b/lib/order.c
index 85ebce56e4..3a8350c934 100644
--- a/lib/order.c
+++ b/lib/order.c
@@ -94,9 +94,21 @@ static inline int addSingleRelation(rpmte p,
 	    RPMSENSE_SCRIPT_PRE : RPMSENSE_SCRIPT_PREUN;
     }
 
-    /* Avoid loop-breaker inflation from weak dependencies for now */
-    if (rpmdsIsWeak(dep))
-	flags = 0;
+    /*
+     * Avoid dependency loop tangles from weak dependencies: demote scriptlet
+     * dependencies to regular ones to avoid loop-breaker inflation, and
+     * and ignore non-scriptlet ones entirely (like "meta" would do).
+     */
+    if (rpmdsIsWeak(dep)) {
+	/* ...but demoting ordering hints would be tragicomic */
+	if (rpmdsTagN(dep) != RPMTAG_ORDERNAME) {
+	    if (flags) {
+		flags = 0;
+	    } else {
+		return 0;
+	    }
+	}
+    }
 
     if (reversed) {
 	rpmte r = p;
diff --git a/tests/rpmorder.at b/tests/rpmorder.at
index daf2f00201..7196775285 100644
--- a/tests/rpmorder.at
+++ b/tests/rpmorder.at
@@ -46,14 +46,14 @@ deptest-three-1.0-1.noarch
 [])
 RPMTEST_CLEANUP
 
-# same as above but with weak dependencies
+# same as above but with mixed weak dependencies
 AT_SETUP([basic install/erase order 2])
 AT_KEYWORDS([install erase order])
 RPMDB_INIT
 
 runroot rpmbuild --quiet -bb \
 	--define "pkg one" \
-	--define "recs deptest-two" \
+	--define "reqs deptest-two" \
 	/data/SPECS/deptest.spec
 runroot rpmbuild --quiet -bb \
 	--define "pkg two" \
@@ -72,17 +72,17 @@ runroot rpm -Uv --justdb \
 [0],
 [Verifying packages...
 Preparing packages...
-deptest-three-1.0-1.noarch
 deptest-two-1.0-1.noarch
 deptest-one-1.0-1.noarch
+deptest-three-1.0-1.noarch
 ],
 [])
 
 RPMTEST_CHECK([
 runroot rpm -ev --justdb \
+	deptest-two \
         deptest-three \
-	deptest-one \
-	deptest-two
+	deptest-one
 ],
 [0],
 [Preparing packages...
@@ -93,7 +93,9 @@ deptest-three-1.0-1.noarch
 [])
 RPMTEST_CLEANUP
 
-# same as above but with weak reverse dependencies
+# same as above but with all weak reverse dependencies
+# these are all considered meta by ordering, so order is simply reverse
+# of the cli
 AT_SETUP([basic install/erase order 3])
 AT_KEYWORDS([install erase order])
 RPMDB_INIT
@@ -119,9 +121,9 @@ runroot rpm -Uv --justdb \
 [0],
 [Verifying packages...
 Preparing packages...
+deptest-one-1.0-1.noarch
 deptest-three-1.0-1.noarch
 deptest-two-1.0-1.noarch
-deptest-one-1.0-1.noarch
 ],
 [])
 
@@ -133,8 +135,8 @@ runroot rpm -ev --justdb \
 ],
 [0],
 [Preparing packages...
-deptest-one-1.0-1.noarch
 deptest-two-1.0-1.noarch
+deptest-one-1.0-1.noarch
 deptest-three-1.0-1.noarch
 ],
 [])