diff --git a/apkbuild-pypi.in b/apkbuild-pypi.in
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 94817bd..6192efa
--- a/apkbuild-pypi.in
+++ b/apkbuild-pypi.in
@@ -216,6 +216,9 @@ sub get_deps {
 
     $apk =~ s/pymakedepends=""/pymakedepends="$reqs"/;
 
+    # remove empty variables
+    $apk =~ s/.*=""\n//g;
+
     open my $fh, '>:utf8', 'APKBUILD';
 
     print $fh $apk;