diff --git a/gclient.py b/gclient.py
index 56e3dfffb9..a2a6b53bdf 100755
--- a/gclient.py
+++ b/gclient.py
@@ -2727,9 +2727,8 @@ def CMDgetdep(parser, args):
         'DEPS file %s does not exist.' % options.deps_file)
   with open(options.deps_file) as f:
     contents = f.read()
-  local_scope = gclient_eval.Parse(
-      contents, expand_vars=True, validate_syntax=True,
-      filename=options.deps_file)
+  local_scope = gclient_eval.Exec(
+      contents, expand_vars=True, filename=options.deps_file)
 
   for var in options.vars:
     print(gclient_eval.GetVar(local_scope, var))
@@ -2778,9 +2777,8 @@ def CMDsetdep(parser, args):
         'DEPS file %s does not exist.' % options.deps_file)
   with open(options.deps_file) as f:
     contents = f.read()
-  local_scope = gclient_eval.Parse(
-      contents, expand_vars=True, validate_syntax=True,
-      filename=options.deps_file)
+  local_scope = gclient_eval.Exec(
+      contents, expand_vars=True, filename=options.deps_file)
 
   for var in options.vars:
     name, _, value = var.partition('=')
diff --git a/recipes/trigger_recipe_roller.txt b/recipes/trigger_recipe_roller.txt
index ba882fe45e..3dc3d6cd22 100644
--- a/recipes/trigger_recipe_roller.txt
+++ b/recipes/trigger_recipe_roller.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-No-op file. Edit this to kick recipes. (Did they do something wrong?)
+No-op file. Edit this to kick recipes.
 
 This is a beginning of a story in this silly file.
 Once upon a time, a budding web browser dev team needed a CI system.
diff --git a/tests/gclient_smoketest.py b/tests/gclient_smoketest.py
index 751ffad80e..ecd2ef1d40 100755
--- a/tests/gclient_smoketest.py
+++ b/tests/gclient_smoketest.py
@@ -823,6 +823,68 @@ class GClientSmokeGIT(GClientSmokeBase):
     }]
     self.assertEqual(out, output_json)
 
+  def testSetDep(self):
+    fake_deps = os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'DEPS.fake')
+    with open(fake_deps, 'w') as f:
+      f.write('\n'.join([
+          'vars = { ',
+          '  "foo_var": "foo_val",',
+          '  "foo_rev": "foo_rev",',
+          '}',
+          'deps = {',
+          '  "foo": {',
+          '    "url": "url@{foo_rev}",',
+          '  },',
+          '  "bar": "url@bar_rev",',
+          '}',
+      ]))
+
+    self.gclient([
+        'setdep', '-r', 'foo@new_foo', '-r', 'bar@new_bar',
+        '--var', 'foo_var=new_val', '--deps-file', fake_deps])
+
+    with open(fake_deps) as f:
+      contents = f.read().splitlines()
+
+    self.assertEqual([
+          'vars = { ',
+          '  "foo_var": "new_val",',
+          '  "foo_rev": "new_foo",',
+          '}',
+          'deps = {',
+          '  "foo": {',
+          '    "url": "url@{foo_rev}",',
+          '  },',
+          '  "bar": "url@new_bar",',
+          '}',
+    ], contents)
+
+  def testGetDep(self):
+    fake_deps = os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'DEPS.fake')
+    with open(fake_deps, 'w') as f:
+      f.write('\n'.join([
+          'vars = { ',
+          '  "foo_var": "foo_val",',
+          '  "foo_rev": "foo_rev",',
+          '}',
+          'deps = {',
+          '  "foo": {',
+          '    "url": "url@{foo_rev}",',
+          '  },',
+          '  "bar": "url@bar_rev",',
+          '}',
+      ]))
+
+    results = self.gclient([
+        'getdep', '-r', 'foo', '-r', 'bar','--var', 'foo_var',
+        '--deps-file', fake_deps])
+
+    self.assertEqual([
+        'foo_val',
+        'foo_rev',
+        'bar_rev',
+    ], results[0].splitlines())
+
   def testFlatten(self):
     if not self.enabled:
       return