diff --git a/dot_bin/executable_bootstrap_pkgs b/dot_bin/executable_bootstrap_pkgs
index 9780abb..5480d28 100644
--- a/dot_bin/executable_bootstrap_pkgs
+++ b/dot_bin/executable_bootstrap_pkgs
@@ -56,12 +56,6 @@ call_makepkg() {
     sudo -u nobody MAKEFLAGS="-j$(nproc)" makepkg -s -r -i -f --noconfirm
 }
 
-get_emacs_packages() {
-    emacs -batch -l "$emacs_dir/init.el" --eval \
-          "(print (s-join \" \" $1))" 2>/dev/null | \
-        sed -n -e 's/"\(.*\)"/\1/p'
-}
-
 run_yay() {
     ## TODO add template switches to control which of these get installed based
     ## on my config
@@ -69,7 +63,10 @@ run_yay() {
     ## packages for emacs (install emacs first to read the config)
     pacman --needed -S emacs
     IFS=' ' read -r -a emacs_pkgs \
-       < <(get_emacs_packages "(nd/get-aur-dependencies t)")
+       < <(emacs -batch -l "$emacs_dir/init.el" --eval \
+                 '(print (format "phgs: %s" (s-join " " (nd/get-aur-dependencies t))))' \
+                 2>/dev/null \
+               sed -n -e 's/"pkgs: \(.*\)"/\1/p')
     echo "Emacs requires the following system pkgs: ${emacs_pkgs[*]}"
 
     ## other packages for random gizmos
diff --git a/run_once_after_10_install-packages.sh b/run_once_after_10_install-packages.sh
index 08f2f5b..c66e77c 100644
--- a/run_once_after_10_install-packages.sh
+++ b/run_once_after_10_install-packages.sh
@@ -52,8 +52,9 @@ sudo "$HOME/.bin/bootstrap_pkgs" "$HOME/.local/share/packages" "$emacs_dir"
 
 IFS=' ' read -r -a emacs_stack_pkgs \
    < <(emacs -batch -l "$emacs_dir/init.el" --eval \
-             "(print (s-join \" \" (nd/get-stack-dependencies)))" 2>/dev/null | \
-           sed -n -e 's/"\(.*\)"/\1/p')
+             '(print (format "phgs: %s" (s-join " " (nd/get-stack-dependencies))))' \
+             2>/dev/null | \
+           sed -n -e 's/"pkgs: \(.*\)"/\1/p')
 echo "Emacs requires the following Haskell packages: ${emacs_stack_pkgs[*]}"
 for p in "${emacs_stack_pkgs[@]}";
 do