diff --git a/darshan-runtime/pkgconfig/darshan-runtime.pc.in b/darshan-runtime/pkgconfig/darshan-runtime.pc.in
index ac08d8ed4..e7e6c083d 100644
--- a/darshan-runtime/pkgconfig/darshan-runtime.pc.in
+++ b/darshan-runtime/pkgconfig/darshan-runtime.pc.in
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Name: darshan
 Description: Darshan runtime library
 Version: @DARSHAN_VERSION@
 
-Requires: zlib mpich
+Requires:
 Requires.private:
 
 prefix=@prefix@