diff --git a/cli/main.c b/cli/main.c
index b0c2300..98a90ea 100644
--- a/cli/main.c
+++ b/cli/main.c
@@ -1510,6 +1510,10 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	if ((want_flags & PKG_INTERNAL_CFLAGS) == PKG_INTERNAL_CFLAGS)
 		want_client_flags |= PKGCONF_PKG_PKGF_DONT_FILTER_INTERNAL_CFLAGS;
 
+	/* --static --libs, --exists require the full dependency graph to be solved */
+	if ((want_flags & (PKG_STATIC|PKG_LIBS)) == (PKG_STATIC|PKG_LIBS) || (want_flags & PKG_EXISTS) == PKG_EXISTS)
+		want_client_flags |= PKGCONF_PKG_PKGF_REQUIRE_INTERNAL;
+
 	/* if these selectors are used, it means that we are querying metadata.
 	 * so signal to libpkgconf that we only want to walk the flattened dependency set.
 	 */
diff --git a/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h b/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h
index b629cec..9c9b3a1 100644
--- a/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h
+++ b/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h
@@ -292,6 +292,7 @@ PKGCONF_API void pkgconf_cross_personality_deinit(pkgconf_cross_personality_t *p
 #define PKGCONF_PKG_PKGF_DONT_MERGE_SPECIAL_FRAGMENTS	0x4000
 #define PKGCONF_PKG_PKGF_FDO_SYSROOT_RULES		0x8000
 #define PKGCONF_PKG_PKGF_PKGCONF1_SYSROOT_RULES         0x10000
+#define PKGCONF_PKG_PKGF_REQUIRE_INTERNAL		0x20000
 
 #define PKGCONF_PKG_DEPF_INTERNAL		0x1
 #define PKGCONF_PKG_DEPF_PRIVATE		0x2