diff --git a/src/Orchard/Environment/State/ShellStateCoordinator.cs b/src/Orchard/Environment/State/ShellStateCoordinator.cs
index 004ce0cc4..3cf5283c1 100644
--- a/src/Orchard/Environment/State/ShellStateCoordinator.cs
+++ b/src/Orchard/Environment/State/ShellStateCoordinator.cs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ using Orchard.Environment.Extensions.Models;
 using Orchard.Environment.State.Models;
 using Orchard.Environment.Descriptor;
 using Orchard.Environment.Descriptor.Models;
+using Orchard.Utility;
 
 namespace Orchard.Environment.State {
     public class ShellStateCoordinator : IShellStateManagerEventHandler, IShellDescriptorManagerEventHandler {
@@ -184,39 +185,9 @@ namespace Orchard.Environment.State {
                    state.EnableState == ShellFeatureState.State.Rising;
         }
 
-        class Linkage {
-            public FeatureDescriptor Feature {
-                get;
-                set;
-            }
-            public bool Used {
-                get;
-                set;
-            }
-        }
-
         public static IEnumerable<FeatureDescriptor> OrderByDependencies(IEnumerable<FeatureDescriptor> descriptors) {
-            var population = descriptors.Select(d => new Linkage {
-                Feature = d
-            }).ToArray();
-
-            var result = new List<FeatureDescriptor>();
-            foreach (var item in population) {
-                Add(item, result, population);
-            }
-            return result;
-        }
-
-        private static void Add(Linkage item, ICollection<FeatureDescriptor> list, IEnumerable<Linkage> population) {
-            if (item.Used)
-                return;
-
-            item.Used = true;
-            var dependencies = item.Feature.Dependencies ?? Enumerable.Empty<string>();
-            foreach (var dependency in dependencies.SelectMany(d => population.Where(p => p.Feature.Name == d))) {
-                Add(dependency, list, population);
-            }
-            list.Add(item.Feature);
+            return descriptors.OrderByDependencies((item, dep) => 
+                item.Dependencies.Any(x => StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase.Equals(x, dep.Name)));
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Orchard/Orchard.Framework.csproj b/src/Orchard/Orchard.Framework.csproj
index e736f8e98..cd6d7f761 100644
--- a/src/Orchard/Orchard.Framework.csproj
+++ b/src/Orchard/Orchard.Framework.csproj
@@ -402,6 +402,7 @@
     <Compile Include="Environment\Extensions\Compilers\CSharpExtensionBuildProviderShim.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Environment\Extensions\Compilers\ProjectFileDescriptor.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Environment\Extensions\Compilers\IProjectFileParser.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="Utility\DependencyOrderingUtility.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Environment\IOrchardHostContainer.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Environment\IShim.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Environment\OrchardHostContainerRegistry.cs" />
diff --git a/src/Orchard/Utility/DependencyOrderingUtility.cs b/src/Orchard/Utility/DependencyOrderingUtility.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cf02d7e6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Orchard/Utility/DependencyOrderingUtility.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
+
+namespace Orchard.Utility {
+    public static class DependencyOrdering {
+
+        class Linkage<T> {
+            public T Element { get; set; }
+            public bool Used { get; set; }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Sort a collection of elements "by dependency order". By passing a lambda which determines if an element
+        /// is a dependency of another, this algorithm will return the collection of elements sorted
+        /// so that a given element in the sequence doesn't depend on any other element further in the sequence.
+        /// </summary>
+        public static IEnumerable<T> OrderByDependencies<T>(this IEnumerable<T> elements, Func<T, T, bool> hasDependency) {
+            var population = elements.Select(d => new Linkage<T> {
+                Element = d
+            }).ToArray();
+
+            var result = new List<T>();
+            foreach (var item in population) {
+                Add(item, result, population, hasDependency);
+            }
+            return result;
+        }
+
+        private static void Add<T>(Linkage<T> item, ICollection<T> list, IEnumerable<Linkage<T>> population, Func<T, T, bool> hasDependency) {
+            if (item.Used)
+                return;
+
+            item.Used = true;
+            foreach (var dependency in population.Where(dep => hasDependency(item.Element, dep.Element))) {
+                Add(dependency, list, population, hasDependency);
+            }
+            list.Add(item.Element);
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file