diff --git a/UPDATING b/UPDATING
--- a/UPDATING
+++ b/UPDATING
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@
 	world, or to merely disable the most expensive debugging functionality
 	at runtime, run "ln -s 'abort:false,junk:false' /etc/malloc.conf".)
 
+20251025:
+	flua(1) has moved to the new FreeBSD-flua package.  If you use flua,
+	you may want to install this package if it's not otherwise installed
+	as a dependency of something else.  This change only affects pkgbase
+	users.
+
 20251021:
 	Bump __FreeBSD_version to 1600002 for LinuxKPI.  An embedded struct
 	has changed size and might possibly be an issue otherwise.
diff --git a/libexec/flua/Makefile b/libexec/flua/Makefile
--- a/libexec/flua/Makefile
+++ b/libexec/flua/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 .include <src.lua.mk>
 
+PACKAGE=	flua
+
 # New flua modules should be added here rather than to SUBDIR so that we can do
 # the right thing for both bootstrap flua and target flua.  The former does not
 # do any shared libs, so we just build them all straight into flua itself rather
diff --git a/libexec/flua/Makefile.inc b/libexec/flua/Makefile.inc
--- a/libexec/flua/Makefile.inc
+++ b/libexec/flua/Makefile.inc
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+PACKAGE=	flua
+
 SHLIBDIR?=	${LIBDIR}/flua
 
 CFLAGS+=	\
diff --git a/release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl b/release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl
--- a/release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl
+++ b/release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl
@@ -21,4 +21,9 @@
 	"runtime" {
 		version = "${VERSION}"
 	},
+
+	# the pkgbase script requires flua
+	"flua" {
+		version = "${VERSION}"
+	},
 }
diff --git a/release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl b/release/packages/ucl/flua-all.ucl
copy from release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl
copy to release/packages/ucl/flua-all.ucl
--- a/release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl
+++ b/release/packages/ucl/flua-all.ucl
@@ -16,9 +16,17 @@
  * OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
  */
 
-deps {
-	# bsdinstall is written in shell script, so it needs /bin/sh
-	"runtime" {
-		version = "${VERSION}"
-	},
+comment = "Private Lua implementation"
+
+desc = <<EOD
+flua(1) is an implementation of Lua for use by the base system.  This facility
+is not intended for general use, and may be modified or removed at any time
+without notice.
+
+Supported versions of Lua for general use are available in the FreeBSD Ports
+Collection.
+EOD
+
+annotations {
+	set = "optional,optional-jail"
 }
diff --git a/release/packages/ucl/nuageinit-all.ucl b/release/packages/ucl/nuageinit-all.ucl
--- a/release/packages/ucl/nuageinit-all.ucl
+++ b/release/packages/ucl/nuageinit-all.ucl
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@
 nuageinit implements the cloud-init (https://cloud-init.io/) specification.
 EOD
 
+deps {
+	# nuageinit is written in Lua
+	"flua" {
+		version = "${VERSION}"
+	},
+}
+
 annotations {
 	set = minimal
 }
diff --git a/release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl b/release/packages/ucl/tests.ucl
copy from release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl
copy to release/packages/ucl/tests.ucl
--- a/release/packages/ucl/bsdinstall.ucl
+++ b/release/packages/ucl/tests.ucl
@@ -16,9 +16,12 @@
  * OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
  */
 
+
 deps {
-	# bsdinstall is written in shell script, so it needs /bin/sh
-	"runtime" {
+	# Quite a few tests require flua.
+	"flua" {
 		version = "${VERSION}"
 	},
 }
+
+