diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 01bded1b5..37bb6894e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -37,3 +37,4 @@ Manage memcached via Puppet
 * $user = '' (OS specific setting, see params.pp)
 * $max_connections = 8192
 * $lock_memory = false (WARNING: good if used intelligently, google for -k key)
+* $install_dev = false (TRUE if 'libmemcached-dev' package should be installed)
diff --git a/manifests/init.pp b/manifests/init.pp
index 8d1ca1540..c4b6a863e 100644
--- a/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/manifests/init.pp
@@ -9,13 +9,21 @@
   $user            = $::memcached::params::user,
   $max_connections = '8192',
   $verbosity       = undef,
-  $unix_socket     = undef
+  $unix_socket     = undef,
+  $install_dev     = false
 ) inherits memcached::params {
 
   package { $memcached::params::package_name:
     ensure => $package_ensure,
   }
 
+  if $install_dev {
+    package { $memcached::params::dev_package_name:
+      ensure  => $package_ensure,
+      require => Package[$memcached::params::package_name]
+    }
+  }
+
   file { $memcached::params::config_file:
     owner   => 'root',
     group   => 'root',
diff --git a/manifests/params.pp b/manifests/params.pp
index 9c1ca4710..5022293c5 100644
--- a/manifests/params.pp
+++ b/manifests/params.pp
@@ -1,18 +1,20 @@
 class memcached::params {
   case $::osfamily {
     'Debian': {
-      $package_name = 'memcached'
-      $service_name = 'memcached'
-      $config_file  = '/etc/memcached.conf'
-      $config_tmpl  = "$module_name/memcached.conf.erb"
-      $user = 'nobody'
+      $package_name     = 'memcached'
+      $service_name     = 'memcached'
+      $dev_package_name = 'libmemcached-dev'
+      $config_file      = '/etc/memcached.conf'
+      $config_tmpl      = "$module_name/memcached.conf.erb"
+      $user             = 'nobody'
     }
     'RedHat': {
-      $package_name = 'memcached'
-      $service_name = 'memcached'
-      $config_file  = '/etc/sysconfig/memcached'
-      $config_tmpl  = "$module_name/memcached_sysconfig.erb"
-      $user = 'memcached'
+      $package_name     = 'memcached'
+      $service_name     = 'memcached'
+      $dev_package_name = 'libmemcached-devel'
+      $config_file      = '/etc/sysconfig/memcached'
+      $config_tmpl      = "$module_name/memcached_sysconfig.erb"
+      $user             = 'memcached'
     }
     default: {
       fail("Unsupported platform: ${::osfamily}")