diff --git a/lib/libalpm/alpm.h b/lib/libalpm/alpm.h
index 880bbeb0..2000db4a 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/alpm.h
+++ b/lib/libalpm/alpm.h
@@ -379,6 +379,7 @@ pmdepend_t *alpm_miss_get_dep(pmdepmissing_t *miss);
 pmdepmod_t alpm_dep_get_mod(pmdepend_t *dep);
 const char *alpm_dep_get_name(pmdepend_t *dep);
 const char *alpm_dep_get_version(pmdepend_t *dep);
+char *alpm_dep_get_string(pmdepend_t *dep);
 
 /*
  * File conflicts
diff --git a/lib/libalpm/deps.c b/lib/libalpm/deps.c
index 69c675cd..7f4fb0b5 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/deps.c
+++ b/lib/libalpm/deps.c
@@ -838,4 +838,38 @@ const char SYMEXPORT *alpm_dep_get_version(pmdepend_t *dep)
 	return dep->version;
 }
 
+/* the return-string must be freed! */
+char SYMEXPORT *alpm_dep_get_string(pmdepend_t *dep)
+{
+	ALPM_LOG_FUNC;
+
+	/* Sanity checks */
+	ASSERT(handle != NULL, return(NULL));
+	ASSERT(dep != NULL, return(NULL));
+
+	char *ptr;
+	char *depstring = malloc(sizeof(pmdepend_t));
+	if(depstring == NULL) {
+		_alpm_log(PM_LOG_ERROR, _("malloc failure: could not allocate %d bytes\n"), sizeof(pmdepend_t));
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	strcpy(depstring, dep->name);
+	ptr = depstring + strlen(depstring);
+	switch(dep->mod) {
+		case PM_DEP_MOD_ANY:
+			break;
+		case PM_DEP_MOD_EQ:
+			sprintf(ptr, "=%s", dep->version);
+			break;
+		case PM_DEP_MOD_GE:
+			sprintf(ptr, ">=%s", dep->version);
+			break;
+		case PM_DEP_MOD_LE:
+			sprintf(ptr, "<=%s", dep->version);
+			break;
+	}
+
+	return(depstring);
+}
 /* vim: set ts=2 sw=2 noet: */
diff --git a/src/pacman/add.c b/src/pacman/add.c
index 0b59a236..f883a6bd 100644
--- a/src/pacman/add.c
+++ b/src/pacman/add.c
@@ -137,26 +137,14 @@ int pacman_add(alpm_list_t *targets)
 				for(i = data; i; i = alpm_list_next(i)) {
 					pmdepmissing_t *miss = alpm_list_getdata(i);
 					pmdepend_t *dep = alpm_miss_get_dep(miss);
+					char *depstring = alpm_dep_get_string(dep);
 				
 					/* TODO indicate if the error was a virtual package or not:
 					 *		:: %s: requires %s, provided by %s
 					 */
 					printf(_(":: %s: requires %s\n"), alpm_miss_get_target(miss),
-							alpm_dep_get_name(dep));
-					switch(alpm_dep_get_mod(dep)) {
-						case PM_DEP_MOD_ANY:
-							break;
-						case PM_DEP_MOD_EQ:
-							printf("=%s", alpm_dep_get_version(dep));
-							break;
-						case PM_DEP_MOD_GE:
-							printf(">=%s", alpm_dep_get_version(dep));
-							break;
-						case PM_DEP_MOD_LE:
-							printf("<=%s", alpm_dep_get_version(dep));
-							break;
-					}
-					printf("\n");
+							depstring);
+					free(depstring);
 				}
 				break;
 			case PM_ERR_CONFLICTING_DEPS:
diff --git a/src/pacman/remove.c b/src/pacman/remove.c
index 860bf491..dce479ec 100644
--- a/src/pacman/remove.c
+++ b/src/pacman/remove.c
@@ -129,8 +129,10 @@ int pacman_remove(alpm_list_t *targets)
 				for(i = data; i; i = alpm_list_next(i)) {
 					pmdepmissing_t *miss = alpm_list_getdata(i);
 					pmdepend_t *dep = alpm_miss_get_dep(miss);
+					char *depstring = alpm_dep_get_string(dep);
 					printf(_(":: %s: requires %s\n"), alpm_miss_get_target(miss),
-							alpm_dep_get_name(dep));
+							depstring);
+					free(depstring);
 				}
 				alpm_list_free(data);
 				break;
diff --git a/src/pacman/sync.c b/src/pacman/sync.c
index 30834a10..9e4b0ada 100644
--- a/src/pacman/sync.c
+++ b/src/pacman/sync.c
@@ -559,22 +559,10 @@ int sync_trans(alpm_list_t *targets, int sync_only)
 				for(i = data; i; i = alpm_list_next(i)) {
 					pmdepmissing_t *miss = alpm_list_getdata(i);
 					pmdepend_t *dep = alpm_miss_get_dep(miss);
+					char *depstring = alpm_dep_get_string(dep);
 					printf(_(":: %s: requires %s\n"), alpm_miss_get_target(miss),
-							alpm_dep_get_name(dep));
-					switch(alpm_dep_get_mod(dep)) {
-						case PM_DEP_MOD_ANY:
-							break;
-						case PM_DEP_MOD_EQ:
-							printf("=%s", alpm_dep_get_version(dep));
-							break;
-						case PM_DEP_MOD_GE:
-							printf(">=%s", alpm_dep_get_version(dep));
-							break;
-						case PM_DEP_MOD_LE:
-							printf("<=%s", alpm_dep_get_version(dep));
-							break;
-					}
-					printf("\n");
+							depstring);
+					free(depstring);
 				}
 				break;
 			case PM_ERR_CONFLICTING_DEPS: