diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 60bf7d7d08..0f5331ec7e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -903,6 +903,21 @@ check-dependencies:
 	@cd "$(CONFIG_DIR)"; \
 	$(TOPDIR)/support/scripts/graph-depends -C
 
+.PHONY: show-info
+show-info:
+	@:
+	$(info $(call clean-json, \
+			{ $(foreach p, \
+				$(sort $(foreach i,$(PACKAGES) $(TARGETS_ROOTFS), \
+						$(i) \
+						$($(call UPPERCASE,$(i))_FINAL_RECURSIVE_DEPENDENCIES) \
+					) \
+				), \
+				$(call json-info,$(call UPPERCASE,$(p)))$(comma) \
+			) } \
+		) \
+	)
+
 else # ifeq ($(BR2_HAVE_DOT_CONFIG),y)
 
 # Some subdirectories are also package names. To avoid that "make linux"
@@ -1128,6 +1143,7 @@ help:
 	@echo '  source                 - download all sources needed for offline-build'
 	@echo '  external-deps          - list external packages used'
 	@echo '  legal-info             - generate info about license compliance'
+	@echo '  show-info              - generate info about packages, as a JSON blurb'
 	@echo '  printvars              - dump internal variables selected with VARS=...'
 	@echo
 	@echo '  make V=0|1             - 0 => quiet build (default), 1 => verbose build'
diff --git a/package/pkg-utils.mk b/package/pkg-utils.mk
index bffd79dfb0..b7280e930f 100644
--- a/package/pkg-utils.mk
+++ b/package/pkg-utils.mk
@@ -62,6 +62,70 @@ $$(error Package error: use $(2) instead of $(1). Please fix your .mk file)
 endif
 endef
 
+# json-info -- return package or filesystem metadata formatted as an entry
+#              of a JSON dictionnary
+# $(1): upper-case package or filesystem name
+define json-info
+	"$($(1)_NAME)": {
+		"type": "$($(1)_TYPE)",
+		$(if $(filter rootfs,$($(1)_TYPE)), \
+			$(call _json-info-fs,$(1)), \
+			$(call _json-info-pkg,$(1)), \
+		)
+	}
+endef
+
+# _json-info-pkg, _json-info-pkg-details, _json-info-fs: private helpers
+# for json-info, above
+define _json-info-pkg
+	$(if $($(1)_IS_VIRTUAL), \
+		"virtual": true$(comma),
+		"virtual": false$(comma)
+		$(call _json-info-pkg-details,$(1)) \
+	)
+	"dependencies": [
+		$(call make-comma-list,$(sort $($(1)_FINAL_ALL_DEPENDENCIES)))
+	],
+	"reverse_dependencies": [
+		$(call make-comma-list,$(sort $($(1)_RDEPENDENCIES)))
+	]
+endef
+
+define _json-info-pkg-details
+	"version": "$($(1)_DL_VERSION)",
+	"licenses": "$($(1)_LICENSE)",
+	"downloads": [
+	$(foreach dl,$(sort $($(1)_ALL_DOWNLOADS)),
+		{
+			"source": "$(notdir $(dl))",
+			"uris": [
+				$(call make-comma-list,
+					$(subst \|,|,
+						$(call DOWNLOAD_URIS,$(dl),$(1))
+					)
+				)
+			]
+		},
+	)
+	],
+endef
+
+define _json-info-fs
+	"dependencies": [
+		$(call make-comma-list,$(sort $($(1)_DEPENDENCIES)))
+	]
+endef
+
+# clean-json -- cleanup pseudo-json into clean json:
+#  - remove commas before closing ] and }
+#  - minify with $(strip)
+clean-json = $(strip \
+	$(subst $(comma)},}, $(subst $(comma)$(space)},$(space)}, \
+	$(subst $(comma)],], $(subst $(comma)$(space)],$(space)], \
+		$(strip $(1)) \
+	)))) \
+)
+
 #
 # legal-info helper functions
 #