diff --git a/vars/debian.yml b/vars/debian.yml
index 2bd0963c..cdb9f842 100644
--- a/vars/debian.yml
+++ b/vars/debian.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ horizon_distro_packages:
   - cron # required by the Ansible cron module
   - git
   - libapache2-mod-wsgi
+  - libmariadbclient-dev    # required to build MySQL-python
   - libssl-dev
   - libxslt1.1
   - openssl
diff --git a/vars/redhat-7.yml b/vars/redhat-7.yml
index 9991dff3..a9f2acfd 100644
--- a/vars/redhat-7.yml
+++ b/vars/redhat-7.yml
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ horizon_distro_packages:
   - openssl
   - openssl-libs
   - which
+  - MariaDB-devel           # required to build MySQL-python
 
 horizon_apache_conf: "/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf"
 horizon_apache_default_log_folder: "/var/log/httpd"
diff --git a/vars/suse-42.yml b/vars/suse-42.yml
index 6d95fcd2..4257c782 100644
--- a/vars/suse-42.yml
+++ b/vars/suse-42.yml
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ horizon_distro_packages:
   - openssl
   - libopenssl-devel
   - which
+  - MariaDB-devel           # required to build MySQL-python
 
 horizon_apache_conf: "/etc/apache2/httpd.conf"
 horizon_apache_default_log_folder: "/var/log/apache2"