diff --git a/src/sage/libs/gap/element.pyx b/src/sage/libs/gap/element.pyx
index c24408f401a..fa414aa67da 100644
--- a/src/sage/libs/gap/element.pyx
+++ b/src/sage/libs/gap/element.pyx
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# distutils: depends = gap/libgap-api.h
 """
 GAP element wrapper
 
diff --git a/src/sage/libs/gap/libgap.pyx b/src/sage/libs/gap/libgap.pyx
index f5b58a929f3..900ae0bf9f1 100644
--- a/src/sage/libs/gap/libgap.pyx
+++ b/src/sage/libs/gap/libgap.pyx
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# distutils: depends = gap/libgap-api.h
 """
 Library Interface to GAP
 
diff --git a/src/sage/libs/gap/util.pyx b/src/sage/libs/gap/util.pyx
index 29fa347ff30..6ee5eb47830 100644
--- a/src/sage/libs/gap/util.pyx
+++ b/src/sage/libs/gap/util.pyx
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# distutils: depends = gap/libgap-api.h
 """
 Utility functions for GAP
 """