diff --git a/osc/commandline.py b/osc/commandline.py
index 42a6ae0b..d893c725 100755
--- a/osc/commandline.py
+++ b/osc/commandline.py
@@ -2082,6 +2082,8 @@ class Osc(cmdln.Cmdln):
                   help='show email addresses instead of user names')
     @cmdln.option('-v', '--verbose', action='store_true',
                   help='show more information')
+    @cmdln.option('-D', '--devel-project', metavar='devel_project',
+                  help='define the project where this package is primarily developed')
     @cmdln.option('-a', '--add', metavar='user',
                   help='add a new maintainer')
     @cmdln.option('-d', '--delete', metavar='user',
@@ -2136,6 +2138,9 @@ class Osc(cmdln.Cmdln):
             addMaintainer(conf.config['apiurl'], prj, pac, opts.add)
         elif opts.delete:
             delMaintainer(conf.config['apiurl'], prj, pac, opts.delete)
+        elif opts.devel_project:
+            addDevelProject(conf.config['apiurl'], prj, pac, opts.devel_project)
+
         else:
             print ', '.join(maintainers)
 
diff --git a/osc/core.py b/osc/core.py
index b24ec44e..900a0dde 100755
--- a/osc/core.py
+++ b/osc/core.py
@@ -3135,6 +3135,30 @@ def delMaintainer(apiurl, prj, pac, user):
     else:
         print "an error occured"
 
+def addDevelProject(apiurl, prj, pac, dprj):
+    """ add a <devel project="..."> element to package metadata"""
+    path = quote_plus(prj),
+    kind = 'prj'
+    if pac:
+        path = path + (quote_plus(pac),)
+        kind = 'pkg'
+    data = meta_exists(metatype=kind,
+                       path_args=path,
+                       template_args=None,
+                       create_new=False)
+                       
+    if data and show_project_meta(apiurl, dprj) != None:
+        tree = ET.fromstring(''.join(data))
+        if not tree.find('devel') != None:
+            ET.SubElement(tree, 'devel')
+        elem = tree.find('devel')
+        elem.attrib['project'] = dprj
+        edit_meta(metatype=kind,
+                  path_args=path,
+                  data=ET.tostring(tree))
+    else:
+        print "osc: an error occured"
+
 def createPackageDir(pathname, prj_obj=None):
     """
     create and initialize a new package dir in the given project.