Index: portutil.tcl
===================================================================
--- portutil.tcl	(revision 59814)
+++ portutil.tcl	(working copy)
@@ -1670,6 +1670,14 @@
         }
     }
 
+    # add required variants
+    foreach v [ditem_key $ditem requires] {
+        if {![variant_isset $v]} {
+            ui_debug "[option name]: Variant $name requires $v"
+            variant_set $v
+        }
+    }
+
     # execute proc with same name as variant.
     if {[catch "variant-${name}" result]} {
         global errorInfo