diff --git a/.github/cspell.json b/.github/cspell.json
index 6bc09aa..91833ce 100644
--- a/.github/cspell.json
+++ b/.github/cspell.json
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
     "libxkbcommon",
     "dlopens",
     "gstreamer",
+    "hwdata",
     "pipewire",
     "sdbus",
     "waypp",
diff --git a/lib/src/cross/dockerfile_emitter.dart b/lib/src/cross/dockerfile_emitter.dart
index 4886876..5e4a593 100644
--- a/lib/src/cross/dockerfile_emitter.dart
+++ b/lib/src/cross/dockerfile_emitter.dart
@@ -50,10 +50,11 @@ FROM $fromImage
 # Build tooling: cmake/ninja/meson/pkg-config + the embedder's host codegen
 # (wayland-scanner via libwayland-bin; git/curl for the engine-header fetch).
 # build-essential gives meson a native (build-machine) compiler — required to
-# configure even a cross build when rebuilding `augment` libs (libdisplay-info).
+# configure even a cross build when rebuilding `augment` libs (libdisplay-info,
+# which also reads hwdata's /usr/share/hwdata/pnp.ids at build time).
 RUN apt-get update \\
  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \\
-      cmake ninja-build meson build-essential pkg-config \\
+      cmake ninja-build meson build-essential pkg-config hwdata \\
       tar xz-utils rsync ca-certificates libwayland-bin git curl \\
  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 ENV FLUTTER_WORKSPACE=$workspace
diff --git a/test/src/cross/dockerfile_emitter_test.dart b/test/src/cross/dockerfile_emitter_test.dart
index 35bb6ec..6aad2aa 100644
--- a/test/src/cross/dockerfile_emitter_test.dart
+++ b/test/src/cross/dockerfile_emitter_test.dart
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ void main() {
       expect(df, contains('ninja-build'));
       expect(df, contains('meson')); // builds augment libs (libdisplay-info)
       expect(df, contains('build-essential')); // native cc for meson configure
+      expect(df, contains('hwdata')); // libdisplay-info build reads pnp.ids
       expect(df, contains('libwayland-bin')); // wayland-scanner for wayland-egl
       expect(df, contains('FROM ${ToolchainImage.defaultFrom}'));
       expect(df, contains('emb.triple="aarch64-none-linux-gnu"'));