diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/dependency.rb b/Library/Homebrew/dependency.rb
index 34320a31b9..6c78e10ac0 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/dependency.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/dependency.rb
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ class Dependency
 
   attr_reader :name, :tags
 
-  def initialize(name, *tags)
+  def initialize(name, tags=[])
     @name = name
-    @tags = tags.flatten.compact
+    @tags = tags
   end
 
   def to_s
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/dependency_collector.rb b/Library/Homebrew/dependency_collector.rb
index 0487697c27..3de385fbf5 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/dependency_collector.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/dependency_collector.rb
@@ -38,87 +38,89 @@ class DependencyCollector
   end
 
   def build(spec)
-    spec, tag = case spec
-                when Hash then spec.shift
-                else spec
-                end
+    spec, tags = case spec
+                 when Hash then spec.shift
+                 else spec
+                 end
 
-    parse_spec(spec, tag)
+    parse_spec(spec, Array(tags))
   end
 
   private
 
-  def parse_spec spec, tag
+  def parse_spec(spec, tags)
     case spec
     when String
-      parse_string_spec(spec, tag)
+      parse_string_spec(spec, tags)
     when Symbol
-      parse_symbol_spec(spec, tag)
+      parse_symbol_spec(spec, tags)
     when Requirement, Dependency
       spec
     when Class
-      parse_class_spec(spec, tag)
+      parse_class_spec(spec, tags)
     else
       raise TypeError, "Unsupported type #{spec.class} for #{spec}"
     end
   end
 
-  def parse_string_spec(spec, tag)
-    if tag && LANGUAGE_MODULES.include?(tag)
+  def parse_string_spec(spec, tags)
+    if tags.empty?
+      Dependency.new(spec, tags)
+    elsif (tag = tags.first) && LANGUAGE_MODULES.include?(tag)
       LanguageModuleDependency.new(tag, spec)
     else
-      Dependency.new(spec, tag)
+      Dependency.new(spec, tags)
     end
   end
 
-  def parse_symbol_spec spec, tag
+  def parse_symbol_spec(spec, tags)
     case spec
     when :autoconf, :automake, :bsdmake, :libtool, :libltdl
       # Xcode no longer provides autotools or some other build tools
-      autotools_dep(spec, tag)
-    when :x11        then X11Dependency.new(spec.to_s, tag)
+      autotools_dep(spec, tags)
+    when :x11        then X11Dependency.new(spec.to_s, tags)
     when *X11Dependency::Proxy::PACKAGES
-      x11_dep(spec, tag)
+      x11_dep(spec, tags)
     when :cairo, :pixman
       # We no longer use X11 psuedo-deps for cairo or pixman,
       # so just return a standard formula dependency.
-      Dependency.new(spec.to_s, tag)
-    when :xcode      then XcodeDependency.new(tag)
-    when :mysql      then MysqlDependency.new(tag)
-    when :postgresql then PostgresqlDependency.new(tag)
-    when :tex        then TeXDependency.new(tag)
-    when :clt        then CLTDependency.new(tag)
-    when :arch       then ArchRequirement.new(tag)
-    when :hg         then MercurialDependency.new(tag)
+      Dependency.new(spec.to_s, tags)
+    when :xcode      then XcodeDependency.new(tags)
+    when :mysql      then MysqlDependency.new(tags)
+    when :postgresql then PostgresqlDependency.new(tags)
+    when :tex        then TeXDependency.new(tags)
+    when :clt        then CLTDependency.new(tags)
+    when :arch       then ArchRequirement.new(tags)
+    when :hg         then MercurialDependency.new(tags)
     else
       raise "Unsupported special dependency #{spec}"
     end
   end
 
-  def parse_class_spec(spec, tag)
+  def parse_class_spec(spec, tags)
     if spec < Requirement
-      spec.new(tag)
+      spec.new(tags)
     else
       raise TypeError, "#{spec} is not a Requirement subclass"
     end
   end
 
-  def x11_dep(spec, tag)
+  def x11_dep(spec, tags)
     if MacOS.version >= :mountain_lion
-      Dependency.new(spec.to_s, tag)
+      Dependency.new(spec.to_s, tags)
     else
-      X11Dependency::Proxy.for(spec.to_s, tag)
+      X11Dependency::Proxy.for(spec.to_s, tags)
     end
   end
 
-  def autotools_dep(spec, tag)
-    case spec
-    when :libltdl then spec, tag = :libtool, Array(tag)
-    else tag = Array(tag) << :build
-    end
-
+  def autotools_dep(spec, tags)
     unless MacOS::Xcode.provides_autotools?
-      Dependency.new(spec.to_s, tag)
+      case spec
+      when :libltdl then spec = :libtool
+      else tags << :build
+      end
+
+      Dependency.new(spec.to_s, tags)
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/requirement.rb b/Library/Homebrew/requirement.rb
index 42e4467bc5..c202738958 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/requirement.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/requirement.rb
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ class Requirement
 
   attr_reader :tags, :name
 
-  def initialize(*tags)
-    @tags = tags.flatten.compact
+  def initialize(tags=[])
+    @tags = tags
     @tags << :build if self.class.build
     @name ||= infer_name
   end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/requirements/language_module_dependency.rb b/Library/Homebrew/requirements/language_module_dependency.rb
index 0c5908a00c..7c293e0c58 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/requirements/language_module_dependency.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/requirements/language_module_dependency.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class LanguageModuleDependency < Requirement
     @language = language
     @module_name = module_name
     @import_name = import_name
-    super
+    super([language, module_name, import_name])
   end
 
   satisfy { quiet_system(*the_test) }
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/requirements/x11_dependency.rb b/Library/Homebrew/requirements/x11_dependency.rb
index c669384c6a..5eb14354dc 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/requirements/x11_dependency.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/requirements/x11_dependency.rb
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@ class X11Dependency < Requirement
 
   env { ENV.x11 }
 
-  def initialize(name="x11", *tags)
-    tags.flatten!
+  def initialize(name="x11", tags=[])
     @name = name
     @min_version = tags.shift if /(\d\.)+\d/ === tags.first
     super(tags)
@@ -66,19 +65,19 @@ class X11Dependency < Requirement
         end
       end
 
-      def for(name, *tags)
+      def for(name, tags=[])
         constant = name.capitalize
 
         if defines_const?(constant)
           klass = const_get(constant)
         else
           klass = Class.new(self) do
-            def initialize(name, *tags) super end
+            def initialize(name, tags) super end
           end
 
           const_set(constant, klass)
         end
-        klass.new(name, *tags)
+        klass.new(name, tags)
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_comparableset.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_comparableset.rb
index ee3f46f934..3e823597c6 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_comparableset.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_comparableset.rb
@@ -17,25 +17,25 @@ class ComparableSetTests < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
   def test_comparison_prefers_larger
     @set << X11Dependency.new
-    @set << X11Dependency.new('x11', '2.6')
+    @set << X11Dependency.new('x11', %w{2.6})
     assert_equal 1, @set.count
-    assert_equal [X11Dependency.new('x11', '2.6')], @set.to_a
+    assert_equal [X11Dependency.new('x11', %w{2.6})], @set.to_a
   end
 
   def test_comparison_does_not_merge_smaller
-    @set << X11Dependency.new('x11', '2.6')
+    @set << X11Dependency.new('x11', %w{2.6})
     @set << X11Dependency.new
     assert_equal 1, @set.count
-    assert_equal [X11Dependency.new('x11', '2.6')], @set.to_a
+    assert_equal [X11Dependency.new('x11', %w{2.6})], @set.to_a
   end
 
   def test_merging_sets
     @set << X11Dependency.new
     @set << Requirement.new
-    reqs = Set.new [X11Dependency.new('x11', '2.6'), Requirement.new]
+    reqs = Set.new [X11Dependency.new('x11', %w{2.6}), Requirement.new]
     assert_same @set, @set.merge(reqs)
 
     assert_equal 2, @set.count
-    assert_equal X11Dependency.new('x11', '2.6'), @set.find {|r| r.is_a? X11Dependency}
+    assert_equal X11Dependency.new('x11', %w{2.6}), @set.find {|r| r.is_a? X11Dependency}
   end
 end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_dependency.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_dependency.rb
index 2eac358e6b..0f030afd6f 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_dependency.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_dependency.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ end
 
 class DependencyTests < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def test_accepts_single_tag
-    dep = Dependency.new("foo", "bar")
+    dep = Dependency.new("foo", %w{bar})
     assert_equal %w{bar}, dep.tags
   end
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class DependencyTests < Test::Unit::TestCase
   end
 
   def test_preserves_symbol_tags
-    dep = Dependency.new("foo", :build)
+    dep = Dependency.new("foo", [:build])
     assert_equal [:build], dep.tags
   end
 
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_dependency_collector.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_dependency_collector.rb
index bf2612cfe3..e780ed5a35 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_dependency_collector.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_dependency_collector.rb
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class DependencyCollectorTests < Test::Unit::TestCase
   end
 
   def test_dependency_tags
-    assert Dependency.new('foo', :build).build?
+    assert Dependency.new('foo', [:build]).build?
     assert Dependency.new('foo', [:build, :optional]).optional?
     assert Dependency.new('foo', [:universal]).options.include? '--universal'
     assert_empty Dependency.new('foo').tags
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_requirement.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_requirement.rb
index 682ee432e6..ccf137e4d2 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_requirement.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_requirement.rb
@@ -3,27 +3,23 @@ require 'requirement'
 
 class RequirementTests < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def test_accepts_single_tag
-    dep = Requirement.new("bar")
+    dep = Requirement.new(%w{bar})
     assert_equal %w{bar}, dep.tags
   end
 
   def test_accepts_multiple_tags
     dep = Requirement.new(%w{bar baz})
     assert_equal %w{bar baz}.sort, dep.tags.sort
-    dep = Requirement.new(*%w{bar baz})
-    assert_equal %w{bar baz}.sort, dep.tags.sort
   end
 
   def test_preserves_symbol_tags
-    dep = Requirement.new(:build)
+    dep = Requirement.new([:build])
     assert_equal [:build], dep.tags
   end
 
   def test_accepts_symbol_and_string_tags
     dep = Requirement.new([:build, "bar"])
     assert_equal [:build, "bar"], dep.tags
-    dep = Requirement.new(:build, "bar")
-    assert_equal [:build, "bar"], dep.tags
   end
 
   def test_dsl_fatal