diff --git a/spack.changes b/spack.changes
index f188da6..3f0a77b 100644
--- a/spack.changes
+++ b/spack.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Thu Apr  4 07:14:54 UTC 2024 - Egbert Eich <eich@suse.com>
+
+- Make `patchelf` a mandatory dependency on products where it
+  is always available.
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Fri Mar 15 13:35:51 UTC 2024 - Egbert Eich <eich@suse.com>
 
diff --git a/spack.spec b/spack.spec
index f7b1777..4711369 100644
--- a/spack.spec
+++ b/spack.spec
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ ExclusiveArch:  do_not_build
 # These packages are found and can be used by spack, %{_sysconfdir}/spack/packages-yaml
 # needs to be updated when one of these packages is updated or uninstalled.
 # Distinguish between packages we recommend and packages which
-%define spack_trigger_recommended_packages autoconf bash bison bzip2 libzip-devel cmake-full ccache cpio diffutils findutils flex git-lfs info make makeinfo m4 ncurses-devel libtool libcurl-devel libopenssl-devel perl-base pkgconf pkg-config python3-base tar xz xz-devel patchelf
+%define spack_trigger_recommended_packages autoconf bash bison bzip2 libzip-devel cmake-full ccache cpio diffutils findutils flex git-lfs info make makeinfo m4 ncurses-devel libtool libcurl-devel libopenssl-devel perl-base pkgconf pkg-config python3-base tar xz xz-devel
 
 %define spack_trigger_recommended_compilers  gcc gcc-c++ gcc-fortran
 
@@ -109,8 +109,10 @@ Requires:       sudo
 Requires:       tar
 Requires:       unzip
 Requires:       xz
+Requires:       (patchelf if (product(SUSE_SLE) >= 15.6 or product(Leap) or product(openSUSE)))
 Recommends:     %spack_trigger_recommended_packages %spack_trigger_recommended_compilers
 Recommends:     lua-lmod
+Recommends:     patchelf
 Requires:       (hwloc if hwloc-devel)
 Requires:       (hwloc-devel if hwloc)
 %else