diff --git a/lib.sh b/lib.sh
index 601a303..1b6430a 100755
--- a/lib.sh
+++ b/lib.sh
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ function get_normalized_package_list {
   architecture=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
   local result
 
-  #IMPORTANT: we rely on a list style input to the apt_query binary with ${packages}, do remove this lint disable!
+  # IMPORTANT: we rely on a list style input to the apt_query binary with ${packages}, do remove this lint disable!
   if [ "${architecture}" == "arm64" ]; then
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
     result=$("${script_dir}/apt_query-arm64" normalized-list ${packages} 2>&1)
@@ -134,11 +134,11 @@ function get_normalized_package_list {
     return 1
   fi
     
-  # Remove "Reverse=Provides: " prefix from strings if present
+  # WORKAROUND: Remove "Reverse=Provides: " prefix from strings if present, 
+  # the go binary can return this prefix sometimes and it messes a bunch of things up.
   local clean_result
   clean_result="${result//Reverse=Provides: /}"
   
-  # Debug logging to stderr (won't interfere with return value captured via command substitution)
   if [[ "${-}" == *x* ]] || [ "${DEBUG:-${debug}}" = "true" ]; then
     echo "packages after sed: '${packages}'" >&2
     echo "original apt-query result: '${result}'" >&2
diff --git a/post_cache_action.sh b/post_cache_action.sh
index f8c7707..388dd14 100755
--- a/post_cache_action.sh
+++ b/post_cache_action.sh
@@ -49,7 +49,9 @@ fi
 if test "${cache_hit}" = "true"; then
   "${script_dir}/restore_pkgs.sh" "${cache_dir}" "${cache_restore_root}" "${execute_install_scripts}" "${debug}"
 else
-  "${script_dir}/install_and_cache_pkgs.sh" "${cache_dir}" "${debug}" "${add_repository}" "${packages}"
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+  # INTENTIONAL: packages must be unquoted to expand into separate arguments for install_and_cache_pkgs.sh
+  "${script_dir}/install_and_cache_pkgs.sh" "${cache_dir}" "${debug}" "${add_repository}" ${packages}
 fi
 
 log_empty_line
diff --git a/src/cmd/apt_query/testlogs/testnormalizedlist_virtualpackagesexists_stdoutsconcretepackage.log b/src/cmd/apt_query/testlogs/testnormalizedlist_virtualpackagesexists_stdoutsconcretepackage.log
index 8c2d1b2..58d6b77 100644
--- a/src/cmd/apt_query/testlogs/testnormalizedlist_virtualpackagesexists_stdoutsconcretepackage.log
+++ b/src/cmd/apt_query/testlogs/testnormalizedlist_virtualpackagesexists_stdoutsconcretepackage.log
@@ -1,15 +1,19 @@
-2025/11/03 17:44:59 Debug log created at /Users/mac/Documents/src/cache-apt-pkgs-action/src/cmd/apt_query/apt_query.log
-2025/11/03 17:44:59 EXECUTION-OBJ-START
+2025/03/15 22:29:14 Debug log created at /home/awalsh128/cache-apt-pkgs-action/src/cmd/apt_query/apt_query.log
+2025/03/15 22:29:14 EXECUTION-OBJ-START
 {
  "Cmd": "apt-cache --quiet=0 --no-all-versions show libvips",
+ "Stdout": "",
+ "Stderr": "N: Can't select candidate version from package libvips as it has no candidate\nN: Can't select versions from package 'libvips' as it is purely virtual\nN: No packages found\n",
  "CombinedOut": "N: Can't select candidate version from package libvips as it has no candidate\nN: Can't select versions from package 'libvips' as it is purely virtual\nN: No packages found\n",
  "ExitCode": 0
 }
 EXECUTION-OBJ-END
-2025/11/03 17:44:59 EXECUTION-OBJ-START
+2025/03/15 22:29:14 EXECUTION-OBJ-START
 {
- "Cmd": "bash -c apt-cache showpkg libvips | grep -A 1 \"Reverse Provides\" | grep -v \"Reverse Provides\" | tail -1",
- "CombinedOut": "libvips42t64 8.16.0-2build1 (= )\n",
+ "Cmd": "bash -c apt-cache showpkg libvips | grep -A 1 \"Reverse Provides\" | tail -1",
+ "Stdout": "libvips42 8.9.1-2 (= )\n",
+ "Stderr": "",
+ "CombinedOut": "libvips42 8.9.1-2 (= )\n",
  "ExitCode": 0
 }
 EXECUTION-OBJ-END