diff --git a/Help/prop_tgt/LINK_DEPENDS.rst b/Help/prop_tgt/LINK_DEPENDS.rst
index bc83393051..3ab8658e83 100644
--- a/Help/prop_tgt/LINK_DEPENDS.rst
+++ b/Help/prop_tgt/LINK_DEPENDS.rst
@@ -10,3 +10,8 @@ linked if any of the named files is newer than it.
 This property is supported only by Makefile and Ninja generators.  It is
 intended to specify dependencies on "linker scripts" for custom Makefile link
 rules.
+
+Contents of ``LINK_DEPENDS`` may use "generator expressions" with
+the syntax ``$<...>``.  See the :manual:`cmake-generator-expressions(7)`
+manual for available expressions.  See the :manual:`cmake-buildsystem(7)`
+manual for more on defining buildsystem properties.
diff --git a/Help/release/dev/LINK_DEPENDS-property.rst b/Help/release/dev/LINK_DEPENDS-property.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..83beba87a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Help/release/dev/LINK_DEPENDS-property.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+LINK_DEPENDS-property
+---------------------
+
+* The :prop_tgt:`LINK_DEPENDS` target property learned to support
+  :manual:`generator expressions <cmake-generator-expressions(7)>`.
diff --git a/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx b/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx
index d4686c2e24..e07ccd9969 100644
--- a/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx
@@ -3027,15 +3027,21 @@ void cmGeneratorTarget::GetLinkDepends(std::vector<std::string>& result,
                                        const std::string& config,
                                        const std::string& language) const
 {
-  if (const char* linkDepends = this->GetProperty("LINK_DEPENDS")) {
-    cmSystemTools::ExpandListArgument(linkDepends, result);
-  }
-
-  std::unordered_set<std::string> uniqueOptions;
   std::vector<cmGeneratorTarget::TargetPropertyEntry*> linkDependsEntries;
+  std::unordered_set<std::string> uniqueOptions;
   cmGeneratorExpressionDAGChecker dagChecker(this->GetName(), "LINK_DEPENDS",
                                              nullptr, nullptr);
 
+  if (const char* linkDepends = this->GetProperty("LINK_DEPENDS")) {
+    std::vector<std::string> depends;
+    cmGeneratorExpression ge;
+    cmSystemTools::ExpandListArgument(linkDepends, depends);
+    for (const auto& depend : depends) {
+      std::unique_ptr<cmCompiledGeneratorExpression> cge = ge.Parse(depend);
+      linkDependsEntries.push_back(
+        new cmGeneratorTarget::TargetPropertyEntry(std::move(cge)));
+    }
+  }
   AddInterfaceEntries(this, config, "INTERFACE_LINK_DEPENDS",
                       linkDependsEntries);
   processLinkDepends(this, linkDependsEntries, result, uniqueOptions,
diff --git a/Tests/BuildDepends/Project/CMakeLists.txt b/Tests/BuildDepends/Project/CMakeLists.txt
index 09be3eac1b..3f41b26d09 100644
--- a/Tests/BuildDepends/Project/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Tests/BuildDepends/Project/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ set_property(
 
 if(TEST_LINK_DEPENDS)
   add_executable(linkdep linkdep.cxx)
-  set_property(TARGET linkdep PROPERTY LINK_DEPENDS ${TEST_LINK_DEPENDS})
+  set_property(TARGET linkdep PROPERTY LINK_DEPENDS $<1:${TEST_LINK_DEPENDS}>)
 
   add_library(foo_interface INTERFACE)
   set_property(TARGET foo_interface PROPERTY INTERFACE_LINK_DEPENDS $<1:${TEST_LINK_DEPENDS}>)