diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 528f02f..0ae2643 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ swupd_make_pack_SOURCES = \
 	src/config.c \
 	src/delta.c \
 	src/globals.c \
+	src/groups.c \
 	src/helpers.c \
 	src/log.c \
 	src/make_packs.c \
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ swupd_make_fullfiles_SOURCES = \
 	src/delta.c \
 	src/fullfiles.c \
 	src/globals.c \
+	src/groups.c \
 	src/helpers.c \
 	src/log.c \
 	src/make_fullfiles.c \
diff --git a/include/swupd.h b/include/swupd.h
index 43a5002..ba9b999 100644
--- a/include/swupd.h
+++ b/include/swupd.h
@@ -221,6 +221,7 @@ extern void read_group_file(char *filename);
 extern void release_group_file(void);
 extern char *group_groups(char *group);
 extern char *group_packages(char *group);
+extern char *group_status(char *group);
 extern char *next_group(void);
 
 extern void apply_heuristics(struct manifest *manifest);
diff --git a/mk_groups_ini.sh b/mk_groups_ini.sh
index cfc37e8..a2924d4 100755
--- a/mk_groups_ini.sh
+++ b/mk_groups_ini.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,11 @@ rm -f $SWUPD_GROUPS_INI
 
 for bundle in $(ls $BUNDLEREPO/bundles)
 do
+	status=$(awk -F: '/^# .STATUS/ {print $2}' $BUNDLEREPO/$bundle | tr -cd '[[:alnum:]]')
 	echo "[$bundle]" >> $SWUPD_GROUPS_INI
 	echo "group=$bundle" >> $SWUPD_GROUPS_INI
+	if [ -n "$status" ]; then
+		echo "status=$status" >> $SWUPD_GROUPS_INI
+	fi
 	echo "" >> $SWUPD_GROUPS_INI
 done
diff --git a/src/groups.c b/src/groups.c
index abfdb60..9dc4609 100644
--- a/src/groups.c
+++ b/src/groups.c
@@ -51,6 +51,13 @@ char *group_groups(char *group)
 	return g_key_file_get_value(groupfile, group, "groups", NULL);
 }
 
+char *group_status(char *group)
+{
+	assert(groupfile != NULL);
+
+	return g_key_file_get_value(groupfile, group, "status", NULL);
+}
+
 void read_group_file(char *filename)
 {
 	GError *error = NULL;
diff --git a/src/manifest.c b/src/manifest.c
index e130db6..57614b4 100644
--- a/src/manifest.c
+++ b/src/manifest.c
@@ -728,6 +728,7 @@ static int write_manifest_plain(struct manifest *manifest)
 	char *base = NULL, *dir;
 	char *conf = config_output_dir();
 	char *filename = NULL;
+	char *status = NULL;
 	char *submanifest_filename = NULL;
 	char *manifest_tempdir = NULL;
 	char *tempmanifest = NULL;
@@ -762,6 +763,10 @@ static int write_manifest_plain(struct manifest *manifest)
 	compute_content_size(manifest);
 	fprintf(out, "contentsize:\t%llu\n", (long long unsigned int)manifest->contentsize);
 	includes = manifest->includes;
+	status = group_status(manifest->component);
+	if (status) {
+		fprintf(out, "status:\t%s\n", status);
+	}
 	while (includes) {
 		struct manifest *sub = includes->data;
 		includes = g_list_next(includes);
diff --git a/test/functional/swupdlib.bash b/test/functional/swupdlib.bash
index b4786a5..1c0d262 100644
--- a/test/functional/swupdlib.bash
+++ b/test/functional/swupdlib.bash
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ init_groups_ini() {
     cat >> $DIR/groups.ini << EOF
 [$bundle]
 group=$bundle
+status=ACTIVE
 EOF
   done
 }