diff --git a/app/flatpak-builtins-build-finish.c b/app/flatpak-builtins-build-finish.c
index 5801af60a..a15424349 100644
--- a/app/flatpak-builtins-build-finish.c
+++ b/app/flatpak-builtins-build-finish.c
@@ -35,11 +35,13 @@
 #include "flatpak-run.h"
 
 static char *opt_command;
+static char *opt_require_version;
 static char **opt_extra_data;
 static gboolean opt_no_exports;
 
 static GOptionEntry options[] = {
   { "command", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING, &opt_command, N_("Command to set"), N_("COMMAND") },
+  { "require-version", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING, &opt_require_version, N_("Flatpak version to require"), N_("MAJOR.MINOR.MICRO") },
   { "no-exports", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_no_exports, N_("Don't process exports"), NULL },
   { "extra-data", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY, &opt_extra_data, N_("Extra data info"),
     N_("NAME:SHA256:DOWNLOAD-SIZE:INSTALL-SIZE:URL") },
@@ -320,6 +322,9 @@ update_metadata (GFile *base, FlatpakContext *arg_context, GCancellable *cancell
         }
     }
 
+  if (opt_require_version)
+    g_key_file_set_string (keyfile, "Application", "required-flatpak", opt_require_version);
+
   app_context = flatpak_context_new ();
   if (!flatpak_context_load_metadata (app_context, keyfile, error))
     goto out;
diff --git a/app/flatpak-transaction.c b/app/flatpak-transaction.c
index c76ff87ef..1dc9d9155 100644
--- a/app/flatpak-transaction.c
+++ b/app/flatpak-transaction.c
@@ -92,29 +92,6 @@ dir_ref_is_installed (FlatpakDir *dir, const char *ref, char **remote_out)
   return TRUE;
 }
 
-static char *
-transaction_fetch_runtime_ref (FlatpakDir *dir, const char *remote, const char *ref)
-{
-  g_autofree char *metadata = NULL;
-  g_autoptr(GKeyFile) metakey = NULL;
-  g_autofree char *runtime_ref = NULL;
-
-  if (!g_str_has_prefix (ref, "app/"))
-    return NULL;
-
-  if (!flatpak_dir_fetch_ref_cache (dir, remote, ref, NULL, NULL, &metadata, NULL, NULL))
-    return NULL;
-
-  metakey = g_key_file_new ();
-  if (!g_key_file_load_from_data (metakey, metadata, -1, 0, NULL))
-    return NULL;
-
-  runtime_ref = g_key_file_get_string (metakey, "Application", "runtime", NULL);
-
-  return g_steal_pointer (&runtime_ref);
-}
-
-
 static FlatpakTransactionOp *
 flatpak_transaction_operation_new (const char *remote,
                                    const char *ref,
@@ -338,6 +315,7 @@ add_related (FlatpakTransaction *self,
 
 static gboolean
 add_deps (FlatpakTransaction *self,
+          GKeyFile *metakey,
           const char *remote,
           const char *ref,
           GError **error)
@@ -347,7 +325,11 @@ add_deps (FlatpakTransaction *self,
   g_autofree char *runtime_remote = NULL;
   const char *pref;
 
-  runtime_ref = transaction_fetch_runtime_ref (self->dir, remote, ref);
+  if (!g_str_has_prefix (ref, "app/"))
+    return TRUE;
+
+  if (metakey)
+    runtime_ref = g_key_file_get_string (metakey, "Application", "runtime", NULL);
   if (runtime_ref == NULL)
     return TRUE;
 
@@ -410,6 +392,8 @@ flatpak_transaction_add_ref (FlatpakTransaction *self,
 {
   g_autofree char *origin = NULL;
   const char *pref;
+  g_autofree char *metadata = NULL;
+  g_autoptr(GKeyFile) metakey = NULL;
 
   pref = strchr (ref, '/') + 1;
 
@@ -440,8 +424,33 @@ flatpak_transaction_add_ref (FlatpakTransaction *self,
         }
     }
 
+  if (flatpak_dir_fetch_ref_cache (self->dir, remote, ref, NULL, NULL, &metadata, NULL, NULL))
+    {
+      metakey = g_key_file_new ();
+      if (!g_key_file_load_from_data (metakey, metadata, -1, 0, NULL))
+        g_clear_object (&metakey);
+    }
+
+  if (metakey)
+    {
+      g_autofree char *required_version = g_key_file_get_string (metakey, "Application", "required-flatpak", NULL);
+      int required_major, required_minor, required_micro;
+      if (required_version)
+        {
+          if (sscanf (required_version, "%d.%d.%d", &required_major, &required_minor, &required_micro) != 3)
+            g_print ("Invalid require-flatpak argument %s\n", required_version);
+          else
+            {
+              if (required_major > PACKAGE_MAJOR_VERSION ||
+                  (required_major == PACKAGE_MAJOR_VERSION && required_minor > PACKAGE_MINOR_VERSION) ||
+                  (required_major == PACKAGE_MAJOR_VERSION && required_minor == PACKAGE_MINOR_VERSION && required_micro > PACKAGE_MICRO_VERSION))
+                return flatpak_fail (error, _("%s needs a later flatpak version (%s)"), ref, required_version);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
   if (self->add_deps)
-    add_deps (self, remote, ref, error);
+    add_deps (self, metakey, remote, ref, error);
 
   flatpak_transaction_add_op (self, remote, ref, subpaths, commit, !is_update, is_update);
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8b925a698..d9eb5698a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -372,6 +372,9 @@ AC_SUBST(FLATPAK_MINOR_VERSION)
 AC_SUBST(FLATPAK_MICRO_VERSION)
 AC_SUBST(FLATPAK_INTERFACE_AGE)
 AC_SUBST(FLATPAK_VERSION)
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([PACKAGE_MAJOR_VERSION], $FLATPAK_MAJOR_VERSION, [Major version])
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([PACKAGE_MINOR_VERSION], $FLATPAK_MINOR_VERSION, [Minor version])
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([PACKAGE_MICRO_VERSION], $FLATPAK_MICRO_VERSION, [Micro version])
 
 # libtool versioning
 #LT_RELEASE=$FLATPAK_MAJOR_VERSION.$FLATPAK_MINOR_VERSION
diff --git a/doc/flatpak-build-finish.xml b/doc/flatpak-build-finish.xml
index 049c0e1e7..4314cd297 100644
--- a/doc/flatpak-build-finish.xml
+++ b/doc/flatpak-build-finish.xml
@@ -86,6 +86,14 @@
                 </para></listitem>
             </varlistentry>
 
+            <varlistentry>
+                <term><option>--require-version=MAJOR.MINOR.MICRO</option></term>
+
+                <listitem><para>
+                    Require this version of later of flatpak to install/update to this build.
+                </para></listitem>
+            </varlistentry>
+
             <varlistentry>
                 <term><option>--share=SUBSYSTEM</option></term>
 
diff --git a/tests/test-run.sh b/tests/test-run.sh
index 951288b68..8910dfbac 100755
--- a/tests/test-run.sh
+++ b/tests/test-run.sh
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 skip_without_bwrap
 skip_without_user_xattrs
 
-echo "1..8"
+echo "1..9"
 
 setup_repo
 install_repo
@@ -287,5 +287,41 @@ assert_has_file $FL_DIR/app/org.test.Split/$ARCH/master/active/files/e/data
 assert_not_has_file $FL_DIR/app/org.test.Split/$ARCH/master/active/files/f
 assert_not_has_file $FL_DIR/app/org.test.Split/$ARCH/master/active/files/nope
 
-
 echo "ok subpaths"
+
+VERSION=`cat "$test_builddir/package_version.txt"`
+
+DIR=`mktemp -d`
+${FLATPAK} build-init ${DIR} org.test.CurrentVersion org.test.Platform org.test.Platform
+${FLATPAK} build-finish --require-version=${VERSION} --command=hello.sh ${DIR}
+${FLATPAK} build-export ${FL_GPGARGS} repo ${DIR}
+DIR=`mktemp -d`
+${FLATPAK} build-init ${DIR} org.test.OldVersion org.test.Platform org.test.Platform
+${FLATPAK} build-finish --require-version=0.6.10 --command=hello.sh ${DIR}
+${FLATPAK} build-export ${FL_GPGARGS} repo ${DIR}
+DIR=`mktemp -d`
+${FLATPAK} build-init ${DIR} org.test.NewVersion org.test.Platform org.test.Platform
+${FLATPAK} build-finish --require-version=${VERSION}9 --command=hello.sh ${DIR}
+${FLATPAK} build-export ${FL_GPGARGS} repo ${DIR}
+
+update_repo
+
+${FLATPAK} ${U} install test-repo org.test.OldVersion master
+${FLATPAK} ${U} install test-repo org.test.CurrentVersion master
+(! ${FLATPAK} ${U} install test-repo org.test.NewVersion master)
+
+DIR=`mktemp -d`
+${FLATPAK} build-init ${DIR} org.test.OldVersion org.test.Platform org.test.Platform
+${FLATPAK} build-finish --require-version=99.0.0 --command=hello.sh ${DIR}
+${FLATPAK} build-export ${FL_GPGARGS} repo ${DIR}
+
+(! ${FLATPAK} ${U} update org.test.OldVersion)
+
+DIR=`mktemp -d`
+${FLATPAK} build-init ${DIR} org.test.OldVersion org.test.Platform org.test.Platform
+${FLATPAK} build-finish --require-version=0.1.1 --command=hello.sh ${DIR}
+${FLATPAK} build-export ${FL_GPGARGS} repo ${DIR}
+
+${FLATPAK} ${U} update org.test.OldVersion
+
+echo "ok version checks"