diff --git a/libpkgconf/fragment.c b/libpkgconf/fragment.c
index ef749fc..389b436 100644
--- a/libpkgconf/fragment.c
+++ b/libpkgconf/fragment.c
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ pkgconf_fragment_add(const pkgconf_client_t *client, pkgconf_list_t *list, const
 
 				free(parent->data);
 				parent->data = newdata;
+				parent->merged = true;
 
 				/* use a copy operation to force a dedup */
 				pkgconf_node_delete(&parent->iter, list);
diff --git a/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h b/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h
index 6357450..f823c9c 100644
--- a/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h
+++ b/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ struct pkgconf_fragment_ {
 
 	char type;
 	char *data;
+
+	bool merged;
 };
 
 struct pkgconf_dependency_ {