diff --git a/meta/classes/base.bbclass b/meta/classes/base.bbclass
index f357dceefd..358b501e57 100644
--- a/meta/classes/base.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/base.bbclass
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ inherit metadata_scm
 inherit buildstats
 inherit logging
 
-OE_IMPORTS += "os sys time oe.path oe.utils oe.data"
+OE_IMPORTS += "os sys time oe.path oe.utils oe.data oe.packagegroup"
 OE_IMPORTS[type] = "list"
 
 def oe_import(d):
diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/packagegroup.py b/meta/lib/oe/packagegroup.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b04c45a1af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/packagegroup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+import itertools
+
+def is_optional(group, d):
+    return bool(d.getVarFlag("PACKAGE_GROUP_%s" % group, "optional"))
+
+def packages(groups, d):
+    for group in groups:
+        for pkg in (d.getVar("PACKAGE_GROUP_%s" % group, True) or "").split():
+            yield pkg
+
+def required_packages(groups, d):
+    req = filter(lambda group: not is_optional(group, d), groups)
+    return packages(req, d)
+
+def optional_packages(groups, d):
+    opt = filter(lambda group: is_optional(group, d), groups)
+    return packages(opt, d)
+
+def active_packages(features, d):
+    return itertools.chain(required_packages(features, d),
+                           optional_packages(features, d))
+
+def active_recipes(features, d):
+    import oe.packagedata
+
+    for pkg in active_packages(features, d):
+        recipe = oe.packagedata.recipename(pkg, d)
+        if recipe:
+            yield recipe