diff --git a/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/GenerateInterfaces.java b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/GenerateInterfaces.java
index 00bff33d..f02e454d 100644
--- a/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/GenerateInterfaces.java
+++ b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/GenerateInterfaces.java
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.lang.SystemUtils;
+import org.omg.SendingContext.RunTime;
 import org.ros.exception.RosMessageRuntimeException;
 import org.ros.internal.message.definition.MessageDefinitionProviderChain;
 import org.ros.internal.message.definition.MessageDefinitionTupleParser;
@@ -36,8 +38,10 @@
 import org.ros.message.MessageFactory;
 import org.ros.message.MessageIdentifier;
 
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.ListIterator;
@@ -96,12 +100,45 @@ private void writeTopicInterfaces(File outputDirectory, Collection<String> packa
       }
     }
     for (MessageIdentifier topicType : topicTypes) {
-      String definition = messageDefinitionProviderChain.get(topicType.getType());
+      String definition = getDefinition(topicType);
       MessageDeclaration messageDeclaration = new MessageDeclaration(topicType, definition);
       writeInterface(messageDeclaration, outputDirectory, true);
     }
   }
 
+  private String getDefinition(MessageIdentifier topicType) {
+    String definition;
+    final File directory = topicDefinitionFileProvider.getDirectory(topicType.getPackage());
+    final String cmd = "rosrun roslib gendeps --cat " + directory.getAbsolutePath() + File.separator + "msg"
+            + File.separator + topicType.getName() + ".msg";
+    final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+    Process p = null;
+    try {
+      p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
+      final BufferedReader bri = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
+      final BufferedReader bre = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getErrorStream()));
+      String s;
+      while ((s = bri.readLine()) != null) {
+        sb.append(s);
+        sb.append("\n");
+      }
+      p.waitFor();
+      if (p.exitValue() != 0) {
+        throw new RuntimeException(bre.readLine());
+      }
+      definition = sb.toString();
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      System.out.println("ERROR: Cannot generate child definitions for " + topicType.getType()
+              + ". Failed to run '" + cmd + "': " + e.getMessage());
+      definition = messageDefinitionProviderChain.get(topicType.getType());
+    } finally {
+      if (p != null) {
+        p.destroy();
+      }
+    }
+    return definition;
+  }
+
   /**
    * @param packages
    *          a list of packages containing the topic types to generate
diff --git a/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/StringFileProvider.java b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/StringFileProvider.java
index 2f9ddfaf..4cdf524f 100644
--- a/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/StringFileProvider.java
+++ b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/StringFileProvider.java
@@ -124,6 +124,10 @@ public String get(File file) {
     return strings.get(file);
   }
 
+  public Collection<File> getDirectories() {
+    return directories;
+  }
+
   public boolean has(File file) {
     return strings.containsKey(file);
   }
diff --git a/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionFileProvider.java b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionFileProvider.java
index 4aa03891..829ffef0 100644
--- a/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionFileProvider.java
+++ b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionFileProvider.java
@@ -92,6 +92,15 @@ public void addDirectory(File directory) {
     stringFileProvider.addDirectory(directory);
   }
 
+  public File getDirectory(String pkg) {
+    for (File dir : stringFileProvider.getDirectories()) {
+      if (dir.getName().equals(pkg)) {
+        return dir;
+      }
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
+
   @Override
   public Collection<String> getPackages() {
     return messageIdentifiers.keySet();
diff --git a/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionParser.java b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionParser.java
index e0bbe1e6..10bd8f28 100644
--- a/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionParser.java
+++ b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionParser.java
@@ -103,6 +103,9 @@ public void parse(String messageType, String messageDefinition) {
         if (line.startsWith("#")) {
           continue;
         }
+        if (line.equals(MessageDefinitionSeparators.defaultSeparator)) {
+          break;
+        }
         if (line.length() > 0) {
           parseField(messageType, line);
         }
diff --git a/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionSeparators.java b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionSeparators.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..12a6abe5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/message_generation/src/main/java/org/ros/internal/message/definition/MessageDefinitionSeparators.java
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package org.ros.internal.message.definition;
+
+public class MessageDefinitionSeparators {
+    public static final String defaultSeparator = "================================================================================";
+}