diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c0b274a4f..ee13ada3d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -173,7 +173,8 @@ it.
 Unlike native compilation, you don't have to build any stages, you can
 immediately start compiling the packages you're interested in. If you intend
 to use the resulting rootfs to boot into, you should however start with building
-`stage1`.
+`stage1`, and if you want to use the resulting rootfs as a full sabotage
+installation with development tools, also the package `base-dev`.
 
 Note that you need to build the `make` and `binutils` packages additional to
 `stage1` if you intend to use the resulting rootfs with full compiler toolchain.
diff --git a/pkg/base-dev b/pkg/base-dev
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ca4fbf865
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/base-dev
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[deps]
+jobflow
+sabotage-core
+kernel-headers
+patch
+binutils
+make
diff --git a/pkg/base-sys b/pkg/base-sys
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5e429248a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/base-sys
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[deps]
+busybox
+services
+
diff --git a/pkg/stage0 b/pkg/stage0
index 14e22fd6d..e4a12c178 100644
--- a/pkg/stage0
+++ b/pkg/stage0
@@ -1,13 +1,8 @@
 [deps.stage0]
-jobflow
-sabotage-core
+base-sys
 services
 stage0-gcc
 stage0-musl
-kernel-headers
-busybox
-patch
-binutils
-make
+base-dev
 
 
diff --git a/pkg/stage1 b/pkg/stage1
index 9e58e856b..9876eed4a 100644
--- a/pkg/stage1
+++ b/pkg/stage1
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 [deps]
-jobflow
-sabotage-core
+base-sys
 kbd
 9base
-busybox
 e2fsprogs
 gcc6
 gmp
@@ -13,10 +11,12 @@ musl
 man
 zlib
 binutils
-patch
 join
 libressl
 ca-certificates
 
+[deps.host]
+base-dev
+
 [build]
 rm -rf "$butch_root_dir""$butch_staging_dir"/stage1