diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ca5120e..29e05b0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -543,7 +543,8 @@ The second symlink method is a little more complicated. It creates a symlink in
 `dst` for every file/directory in `src`.
 
 ### Why would I use `link_children`?
-This feature can be very useful dotfiles such as vim where you may not want
+
+This feature can be very useful for dotfiles such as vim where you may not want
 plugins cluttering your dotfiles repository. First, the simpler `link: true` is
 shown for comparison. With the `config.yaml` entry shown below, `~/.vim` gets
 symlinked to `~/.dotfiles/vim/`. This means that using vim will now pollute the
@@ -793,6 +794,27 @@ Following template variables are available:
 * defined variables (see [Variables](#variables))
 * interpreted variables (see [Interpreted variables](#interpreted-variables))
 
+All variables are recursively evaluated what means that
+a config similar to:
+```yaml
+variables:
+  var1: "var1"
+  var2: "{{@@ var1 @@}} var2"
+  var3: "{{@@ var2 @@}} var3"
+  var4: "{{@@ dvar4 @@}}"
+dynvariables:
+  dvar1: "echo dvar1"
+  dvar2: "{{@@ dvar1 @@}} dvar2"
+  dvar3: "{{@@ dvar2 @@}} dvar3"
+  dvar4: "echo {{@@ var3 @@}}"
+```
+
+will result in
+* var3: `var1 var2 var3`
+* dvar3: `dvar1 dvar2 dvar3`
+* var4: `echo var1 var2 var3`
+* dvar4: `var1 var2 var3`
+
 ## Variables
 
 Variables can be added in the config file under the `variables` entry.
diff --git a/dotdrop/config.py b/dotdrop/config.py
index ff3412e..a4c5ca2 100644
--- a/dotdrop/config.py
+++ b/dotdrop/config.py
@@ -119,9 +119,8 @@ class Cfg:
             raise ValueError('config is not valid')
 
     def eval_dotfiles(self, profile, debug=False):
-        """resolve dotfiles src/dst templating"""
-        t = Templategen(variables=self.get_variables(profile),
-                        debug=debug)
+        """resolve dotfiles src/dst templating for this profile"""
+        t = Templategen(variables=self.get_variables(profile, debug=debug))
         for d in self.get_dotfiles(profile):
             d.src = t.generate_string(d.src)
             d.dst = t.generate_string(d.dst)
@@ -622,8 +621,44 @@ class Cfg:
         """return all defined settings"""
         return self.lnk_settings.copy()
 
-    def get_variables(self, profile):
+    def get_variables(self, profile, debug=False):
         """return the variables for this profile"""
+        # get flat variables
+        variables = self._get_variables(profile)
+
+        # get interpreted variables
+        dvariables = self._get_dynvariables(profile)
+
+        # recursive resolve variables
+        allvars = variables.copy()
+        allvars.update(dvariables)
+        var = self._rec_resolve_vars(allvars)
+
+        # execute dynvariables
+        for k in dvariables.keys():
+            var[k] = shell(var[k])
+
+        if debug:
+            self.log.dbg('variables:')
+            for k, v in var.items():
+                self.log.dbg('\t\"{}\": {}'.format(k, v))
+
+        return var
+
+    def _rec_resolve_vars(self, variables):
+        """recursive resolve all variables"""
+        t = Templategen(variables=variables)
+
+        for k in variables.keys():
+            val = variables[k]
+            while Templategen.var_is_template(val):
+                val = t.generate_string(val)
+                variables[k] = val
+                t.update_variables(variables)
+        return variables
+
+    def _get_variables(self, profile):
+        """return the flat variables"""
         variables = {}
 
         # profile variable
@@ -633,13 +668,6 @@ class Cfg:
         if self.key_variables in self.content:
             variables.update(self.content[self.key_variables])
 
-        # global dynvariables
-        if self.key_dynvariables in self.content:
-            # interpret dynamic variables
-            dynvars = self.content[self.key_dynvariables]
-            for k, v in dynvars.items():
-                variables[k] = shell(v)
-
         if profile not in self.lnk_profiles:
             return variables
 
@@ -649,10 +677,24 @@ class Cfg:
             for k, v in var[self.key_variables].items():
                 variables[k] = v
 
+        return variables
+
+    def _get_dynvariables(self, profile):
+        """return the dyn variables"""
+        variables = {}
+
+        # global dynvariables
+        if self.key_dynvariables in self.content:
+            # interpret dynamic variables
+            variables.update(self.content[self.key_dynvariables])
+
+        if profile not in self.lnk_profiles:
+            return variables
+
         # profile dynvariables
+        var = self.lnk_profiles[profile]
         if self.key_dynvariables in var.keys():
-            for k, v in var[self.key_dynvariables].items():
-                variables[k] = shell(v)
+            variables.update(var[self.key_dynvariables])
 
         return variables
 
diff --git a/dotdrop/dotdrop.py b/dotdrop/dotdrop.py
index a040e10..c3bc076 100644
--- a/dotdrop/dotdrop.py
+++ b/dotdrop/dotdrop.py
@@ -449,7 +449,8 @@ def main():
         opts['link'] = LinkTypes.NOLINK
 
     opts['debug'] = args['--verbose']
-    opts['variables'] = conf.get_variables(opts['profile'])
+    opts['variables'] = conf.get_variables(opts['profile'],
+                                           debug=opts['debug'])
     opts['showdiff'] = opts['showdiff'] or args['--showdiff']
 
     if opts['debug']:
diff --git a/dotdrop/templategen.py b/dotdrop/templategen.py
index 63d3f1e..62812cf 100644
--- a/dotdrop/templategen.py
+++ b/dotdrop/templategen.py
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ class Templategen:
             return ''
         return self.env.from_string(string).render()
 
+    def update_variables(self, variables):
+        """update variables"""
+        self.env.globals.update(variables)
+
     def _header(self, prepend=''):
         """add a comment usually in the header of a dotfile"""
         return '{}{}'.format(prepend, utils.header())
@@ -125,6 +129,11 @@ class Templategen:
                     return True
         return False
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def var_is_template(string):
+        """check if variable contains template(s)"""
+        return VAR_START in str(string)
+
     @staticmethod
     def _is_template(path):
         """test if file pointed by path is a template"""
diff --git a/tests-ng/recvariables.sh b/tests-ng/recvariables.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ad913cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests-ng/recvariables.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# author: deadc0de6 (https://github.com/deadc0de6)
+# Copyright (c) 2017, deadc0de6
+#
+# test recursive variables
+# returns 1 in case of error
+#
+
+# exit on first error
+set -e
+
+# all this crap to get current path
+rl="readlink -f"
+if ! ${rl} "${0}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  rl="realpath"
+
+  if ! hash ${rl}; then
+    echo "\"${rl}\" not found !" && exit 1
+  fi
+fi
+cur=$(dirname "$(${rl} "${0}")")
+
+#hash dotdrop >/dev/null 2>&1
+#[ "$?" != "0" ] && echo "install dotdrop to run tests" && exit 1
+
+#echo "called with ${1}"
+
+# dotdrop path can be pass as argument
+ddpath="${cur}/../"
+[ "${1}" != "" ] && ddpath="${1}"
+[ ! -d ${ddpath} ] && echo "ddpath \"${ddpath}\" is not a directory" && exit 1
+
+export PYTHONPATH="${ddpath}:${PYTHONPATH}"
+bin="python3 -m dotdrop.dotdrop"
+
+echo "dotdrop path: ${ddpath}"
+echo "pythonpath: ${PYTHONPATH}"
+
+# get the helpers
+source ${cur}/helpers
+
+echo -e "\e[96m\e[1m==> RUNNING $(basename $BASH_SOURCE) <==\e[0m"
+
+################################################################
+# this is the test
+################################################################
+
+# the dotfile source
+tmps=`mktemp -d`
+mkdir -p ${tmps}/dotfiles
+# the dotfile destination
+tmpd=`mktemp -d`
+#echo "dotfile destination: ${tmpd}"
+
+# create the config file
+cfg="${tmps}/config.yaml"
+
+cat > ${cfg} << _EOF
+config:
+  backup: true
+  create: true
+  dotpath: dotfiles
+variables:
+  var1: "var1"
+  var2: "{{@@ var1 @@}} var2"
+  var3: "{{@@ var2 @@}} var3"
+  var4: "{{@@ dvar4 @@}}"
+dynvariables:
+  dvar1: "echo dvar1"
+  dvar2: "{{@@ dvar1 @@}} dvar2"
+  dvar3: "{{@@ dvar2 @@}} dvar3"
+  dvar4: "echo {{@@ var3 @@}}"
+dotfiles:
+  f_abc:
+    dst: ${tmpd}/abc
+    src: abc
+profiles:
+  p1:
+    dotfiles:
+    - f_abc
+_EOF
+cat ${cfg}
+
+# create the dotfile
+echo "var3: {{@@ var3 @@}}" > ${tmps}/dotfiles/abc
+echo "dvar3: {{@@ dvar3 @@}}" >> ${tmps}/dotfiles/abc
+echo "var4: {{@@ var4 @@}}" >> ${tmps}/dotfiles/abc
+echo "dvar4: {{@@ dvar4 @@}}" >> ${tmps}/dotfiles/abc
+
+#cat ${tmps}/dotfiles/abc
+
+# install
+cd ${ddpath} | ${bin} install -f -c ${cfg} -p p1 -V
+
+#cat ${tmpd}/abc
+
+grep '^var3: var1 var2 var3' ${tmpd}/abc >/dev/null
+grep '^dvar3: dvar1 dvar2 dvar3' ${tmpd}/abc >/dev/null
+grep '^var4: echo var1 var2 var3' ${tmpd}/abc >/dev/null
+grep '^dvar4: var1 var2 var3' ${tmpd}/abc >/dev/null
+
+#cat ${tmpd}/abc
+
+## CLEANING
+rm -rf ${tmps} ${tmpd} ${scr}
+
+echo "OK"
+exit 0