diff --git a/backends/apt/helpers/aptBackend.py b/backends/apt/helpers/aptBackend.py
index 7ec925cc2..7a3178639 100644
--- a/backends/apt/helpers/aptBackend.py
+++ b/backends/apt/helpers/aptBackend.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 #
+# vim: ts=4 et sts=4
+#
 # Copyright (C) 2007 Ali Sabil <ali.sabil@gmail.com>
+# Copyright (C) 2007 Tom Parker <palfrey@tevp.net>
 #
 # Licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 2
 #
@@ -225,7 +228,17 @@ class PackageKitAptBackend(PackageKitBaseBackend):
         pkg = Package(self._apt_cache[name], self)
         self._emit_package(pkg)
 
-    ### Helpers ###
+    def get_depends(self,package):
+        '''
+        Implement the {backend}-get-depends functionality
+        '''
+        name, version, arch, data = self.get_package_from_id(package)
+        pkg = Package(self._apt_cache[name], self)
+        print dir(pkg)
+        print dir(pkg._depcache)
+        raise Exception
+
+  ### Helpers ###
     def _emit_package(self, package):
         id = self.get_package_id(package.name,
                 package.installed_version or package.candidate_version,
diff --git a/backends/apt/helpers/get-depends.py b/backends/apt/helpers/get-depends.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b586a18a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backends/apt/helpers/get-depends.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2007 Richard Hughes <richard@hughsie.com>
+#
+# Licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 2
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+
+import sys
+
+from aptBackend import PackageKitAptBackend
+package=sys.argv[1]
+backend = PackageKitAptBackend(sys.argv[1:])
+backend.get_depends(package)
+sys.exit(0)