diff --git a/scripts/Dockerfile b/scripts/Dockerfile
index c6ae421aee9c30948341538546ad66d40f54470d..a5feb62cc1a0708b45bd8a26e525a364dde4ae8f 100644
--- a/scripts/Dockerfile
+++ b/scripts/Dockerfile
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ RUN apt-get -y update && \
       libsvn-dev libapr1-dev libaprutil1-dev \
       libpython3-dev \
       libpq-dev \
+      # swh lister's dependency on rpy2 need this
+      r-base-dev \
     && \
     apt clean