diff --git a/lib/libalpm/deps.c b/lib/libalpm/deps.c
index 66b2d77..22c7347 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/deps.c
+++ b/lib/libalpm/deps.c
@@ -508,73 +513,54 @@ static int can_remove_package(pmdb_t *db, pmpkg_t *pkg, alpm_list_t *targets)
 	return(1);
 }
 
-/* return a new alpm_list_t target list containing all packages in the original
- * target list, as well as all their un-needed dependencies.  By un-needed,
- * I mean dependencies that are *only* required for packages in the target
- * list, so they can be safely removed.  This function is recursive.
+/* @param targs list contains topo sorted _removable_ packages
+ * @return: un-needed dependencies of targs added to targs (still topo sorted)
+ * By un-needed, I mean dependencies that are *only* required for packages in the target
+ * list, so they can be safely removed.
+ * assumptions: alpm_list_add adds new member to the end of the list, so we can reuse the list pointer
+ *		localdb doesn't contain a dep cicle.
  */
-alpm_list_t *_alpm_removedeps(pmdb_t *db, alpm_list_t *targs)
+void _alpm_removedeps(pmdb_t *db, alpm_list_t *targs)
 {
 	alpm_list_t *i, *j, *k;
-	alpm_list_t *newtargs = targs;
 
 	ALPM_LOG_FUNC;
 
 	if(db == NULL) {
-		return(newtargs);
+		return;
 	}
-
-	for(i = targs; i; i = i->next) {
-		pmpkg_t *pkg = i->data;
-		for(j = alpm_pkg_get_depends(pkg); j; j = j->next) {
-			pmdepend_t *depend = alpm_splitdep(j->data);
-			pmpkg_t *deppkg;
-			if(depend == NULL) {
-				continue;
-			}
-
-			deppkg = _alpm_db_get_pkgfromcache(db, depend->name);
-			if(deppkg == NULL) {
-				/* package not found... look for a provision instead */
-				alpm_list_t *provides = _alpm_db_whatprovides(db, depend->name);
-				if(!provides) {
-					/* Not found, that's fine, carry on */
-					_alpm_log(PM_LOG_DEBUG, _("cannot find package \"%s\" or anything that provides it!"), depend->name);
+	int ready = 0;
+	while(!ready) {
+		ready = 1;
+		for(i = targs; i; i = i->next) {
+			pmpkg_t *pkg = i->data;
+			for(j = alpm_pkg_get_depends(pkg); j; j = j->next) {
+				pmdepend_t *depend = alpm_splitdep(j->data);
+				if(depend == NULL) {
 					continue;
 				}
-				for(k = provides; k; k = k->next) {
-					pmpkg_t *provpkg = k->data;
-					if(can_remove_package(db, provpkg, newtargs)) {
-						pmpkg_t *pkg = _alpm_pkg_dup(provpkg);
 
-						_alpm_log(PM_LOG_DEBUG, _("adding '%s' to the targets"), alpm_pkg_get_name(pkg));
+				for(k = _alpm_db_get_pkgcache(db); k; k = k->next) {
+					pmpkg_t *deppkg = k->data;
+					if(alpm_depcmp(deppkg,depend) && can_remove_package(db, deppkg, targs)) {
+						_alpm_log(PM_LOG_DEBUG, _("adding '%s' to the targets"), alpm_pkg_get_name(deppkg));
 
 						/* add it to the target list */
-						newtargs = alpm_list_add(newtargs, pkg);
-						newtargs = _alpm_removedeps(db, newtargs);
+						targs = alpm_list_add(targs, _alpm_pkg_dup(deppkg));
+						ready = 0;
 					}
 				}
-				alpm_list_free(provides);
-			} else if(can_remove_package(db, deppkg, newtargs)) {
-				pmpkg_t *pkg = _alpm_pkg_dup(deppkg);
-
-				_alpm_log(PM_LOG_DEBUG, _("adding '%s' to the targets"), alpm_pkg_get_name(pkg));
-
-				/* add it to the target list */
-				newtargs = alpm_list_add(newtargs, pkg);
-				newtargs = _alpm_removedeps(db, newtargs);
+				free(depend);
 			}
-			free(depend);
 		}
 	}
-
-	return(newtargs);
 }
 
 /* populates *list with packages that need to be installed to satisfy all
  * dependencies (recursive) for syncpkg
  *
  * make sure *list and *trail are already initialized
+ * assumption: alpm_list_add adds new member to the end of the list, so we can reuse the list pointer 
  */
 int _alpm_resolvedeps(pmdb_t *local, alpm_list_t *dbs_sync, pmpkg_t *syncpkg,
                       alpm_list_t *list, alpm_list_t *trail, pmtrans_t *trans,
diff --git a/lib/libalpm/deps.h b/lib/libalpm/deps.h
index 132f21f..3f5e87b 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/deps.h
+++ b/lib/libalpm/deps.h
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ int _alpm_depmiss_isin(pmdepmissing_t *needle, alpm_list_t *haystack);
 alpm_list_t *_alpm_sortbydeps(alpm_list_t *targets, pmtranstype_t mode);
 alpm_list_t *_alpm_checkdeps(pmtrans_t *trans, pmdb_t *db, pmtranstype_t op,
                              alpm_list_t *packages);
-alpm_list_t *_alpm_removedeps(pmdb_t *db, alpm_list_t *targs);
+void _alpm_removedeps(pmdb_t *db, alpm_list_t *targs);
 int _alpm_resolvedeps(pmdb_t *local, alpm_list_t *dbs_sync, pmpkg_t *syncpkg,
                       alpm_list_t *list, alpm_list_t *trail, pmtrans_t *trans,
 											alpm_list_t **data);
diff --git a/lib/libalpm/remove.c b/lib/libalpm/remove.c
index 920739a..35807e4 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/remove.c
+++ b/lib/libalpm/remove.c
@@ -137,11 +137,6 @@ int _alpm_remove_prepare(pmtrans_t *trans, pmdb_t *db, alpm_list_t **data)
 			}
 		}
 
-		if(trans->flags & PM_TRANS_FLAG_RECURSE) {
-			_alpm_log(PM_LOG_DEBUG, _("finding removable dependencies"));
-			trans->packages = _alpm_removedeps(db, trans->packages);
-		}
-
 		/* re-order w.r.t. dependencies */ 
 		_alpm_log(PM_LOG_DEBUG, _("sorting by dependencies"));
 		lp = _alpm_sortbydeps(trans->packages, PM_TRANS_TYPE_REMOVE);
@@ -149,6 +144,11 @@ int _alpm_remove_prepare(pmtrans_t *trans, pmdb_t *db, alpm_list_t **data)
 		alpm_list_free(trans->packages);
 		trans->packages = lp;
 
+		if(trans->flags & PM_TRANS_FLAG_RECURSE) {
+			_alpm_log(PM_LOG_DEBUG, _("finding removable dependencies"));
+			_alpm_removedeps(db, trans->packages);
+		}
+
 		EVENT(trans, PM_TRANS_EVT_CHECKDEPS_DONE, NULL, NULL);
 	}