diff --git a/sunrise-commit b/sunrise-commit
index 31bd285..a377ef2 100755
--- a/sunrise-commit
+++ b/sunrise-commit
@@ -145,11 +145,11 @@ find_ebuilds() {
 		# Replace with the filtered version
 		SC_CHANGE_LIST=${SC_REMOVED_PACKAGE_LIST}
 
-		local root sdir
-		root=${category:+../}
+		local sdir
+		SC_ROOT=${category:+../}
 
 		for sdir in eclass licenses profiles; do
-			check_for_changes ${root}${sdir} >/dev/null && SC_CHANGE_LIST="${SC_CHANGE_LIST} ${root}${sdir}"
+			check_for_changes ${SC_ROOT}${sdir} >/dev/null && SC_CHANGE_LIST="${SC_CHANGE_LIST} ${SC_ROOT}${sdir}"
 		done
 		SC_SCENARIO=package-removal
 		sayv "We're removing ${SC_CP}."
@@ -444,6 +444,22 @@ main() {
 		package-removal)
 			vcs_status ${SC_CHANGE_LIST}
 			echo
+
+			local pkg regex
+			regex=
+			for pkg in ${SC_REMOVED_PACKAGE_LIST}; do
+				regex="${regex:+${regex}\|}${pkg}"
+			done
+
+			say "${GREEN}Grepping for package references...${RESET}"
+			# -n is for line numbers, -C would be non-POSIX
+			if grep -n "${regex}" ${SC_ROOT}*/*/*.ebuild ${SC_ROOT}profiles/package.mask; then
+				echo
+				[ -n "${force}" ] || die 'Please remove the removed package references or use --force.'
+			else
+				echo
+			fi
+
 			say "Ready to commit ${WHITE}$(echo ${SC_REMOVED_PACKAGE_LIST} | wc -w)${RESET} package removal(s), with commit message:"
 			say "${BGREEN}${SC_CP}: ${commitmsg}${RESET}"
 			confirm
@@ -453,8 +469,6 @@ main() {
 				vcs_update ${SC_CHANGE_LIST}
 			fi
 
-			# XXX: a consistency check on *DEPENDs, package.mask
-
 			vcs_commit "${noprepend-${SC_CP}: }${commitmsg}" ${SC_CHANGE_LIST}
 			;;
 	esac