diff --git a/package/samba4/Config.in b/package/samba4/Config.in
index 552afe90cd..e114a7e13f 100644
--- a/package/samba4/Config.in
+++ b/package/samba4/Config.in
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_SAMBA4_AD_DC
 	bool "AD DC"
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON3
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_JANSSON
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_DNSPYTHON
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_MARKDOWN
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_SAMBA4_ADS
 	help
 	  Enable Active Directory Domain Controller functionality.
diff --git a/package/samba4/samba4.mk b/package/samba4/samba4.mk
index 99c8af9ab2..ce41208981 100644
--- a/package/samba4/samba4.mk
+++ b/package/samba4/samba4.mk
@@ -149,7 +149,15 @@ define SAMBA4_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS
 endef
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_SAMBA4_AD_DC),y)
-SAMBA4_DEPENDENCIES += jansson
+# host-python-dnspython and host-python-markdown are not strictly
+# needed on the host, but on the target. however, samba's configure
+# tests for their availability on the host.
+SAMBA4_DEPENDENCIES += \
+	jansson \
+	host-python-dnspython \
+	host-python-markdown \
+	python-dnspython \
+	python-markdown
 else
 SAMBA4_CONF_OPTS += --without-ad-dc --without-json
 endif