diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/cppad/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/cppad/package.py
index e17a0702943a0deb02f93b3fb307a294f4720421..c13c2c5be98ef7b93d4acfd3456b10043981166d 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/cppad/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/cppad/package.py
@@ -34,8 +34,6 @@ class Cppad(CMakePackage):
     version('20170114', '565a534dc813fa1289764222cd8c11ea')
     version('develop', git='https://github.com/coin-or/CppAD.git')
 
-    depends_on('cmake', type='build')
-
     def cmake_args(self):
         # This package does not obey CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX
         args = [
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/elemental/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/elemental/package.py
index 24b5bf8d152fd078101ebcf0bc3bb4dffce72e75..0021c7832bb2f59bbd2ee7674bd233730b89d5d7 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/elemental/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/elemental/package.py
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@ class Elemental(CMakePackage):
     variant('scalapack', default=False,
             description='Build with ScaLAPACK library')
 
-    depends_on('cmake', type='build')
     # Note that this forces us to use OpenBLAS until #1712 is fixed
     depends_on('blas', when='~openmp_blas ~int64_blas')
     # Hack to forward variant to openblas package
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libsplash/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libsplash/package.py
index eb302e596b3876a9c8c0b4043fdb705660ff1389..61ead25177b0abf51e84e308b04d639f8e3da9dc 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libsplash/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libsplash/package.py
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ class Libsplash(CMakePackage):
     variant('mpi', default=True,
             description='Enable parallel I/O (one-file aggregation) support')
 
-    depends_on('cmake', type='build')
     depends_on('hdf5@1.8.6:')
     depends_on('hdf5+mpi', when='+mpi')
     depends_on('mpi', when='+mpi')
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/pngwriter/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/pngwriter/package.py
index 29501297652703269cae214d30cbe1b1f867d378..ef3e28aded0294d384e2f77a5bb697b8ae2bbf00 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/pngwriter/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/pngwriter/package.py
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ class Pngwriter(CMakePackage):
     version('0.6.0', '0a19bc55c5f6379fea7343752fd3ffae')
     version('0.5.6', 'c13bd1fdc0e331a246e6127b5f262136')
 
-    depends_on('cmake', type='build')
     depends_on('libpng')
     depends_on('zlib')
     depends_on('freetype')
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/symengine/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/symengine/package.py
index 136575e48c7e98aeddc6b0da8da9a85f2557e459..575509cd5e2475bf9a86f42a7a13419115021bcc 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/symengine/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/symengine/package.py
@@ -55,10 +55,6 @@ class Symengine(CMakePackage):
     variant('shared',       default=True,
             description='Enables the build of shared libraries')
 
-    # Build dependencies
-    depends_on('cmake',    type='build')
-
-    # Other dependencies
     # NOTE: mpir is a drop-in replacement for gmp
     # NOTE: [mpc,mpfr,flint,piranha] could also be built against mpir
     depends_on('boost',    when='+boostmp')