diff --git a/coverage.sh b/coverage.sh
index 673723d..dbcf26f 100755
--- a/coverage.sh
+++ b/coverage.sh
@@ -3072,7 +3072,7 @@ $CMD \$include --mode=$defaultmode --variant=$variant \
 	--setup-hook='sync-in "'"\$tmpdir"'" /var/cache/apt/archives/partial' \
 	$DEFAULT_DIST - $mirror > test1.tar
 cmp orig.tar test1.tar
-$CMD \$include --mode=$defaultmode --variant=$variant --skip=download/empty \
+$CMD \$include --mode=$defaultmode --variant=$variant \
 	--customize-hook='touch "\$1"/var/cache/apt/archives/partial' \
 	--setup-hook='mkdir -p "\$1"/var/cache/apt/archives/' \
 	--setup-hook='sync-in "'"\$tmpdir"'" /var/cache/apt/archives/' \
diff --git a/mmdebstrap b/mmdebstrap
index ba58be5..ea85a77 100755
--- a/mmdebstrap
+++ b/mmdebstrap
@@ -872,22 +872,11 @@ sub run_dpkg_progress {
 }
 
 sub run_apt_progress {
-    my $options = shift;
-    my @debs    = @{ $options->{PKGS} // [] };
-    my $tmpeipp;
-    if (exists $options->{EIPP_RES}) {
-        (undef, $tmpeipp) = tempfile(
-            "mmdebstrap.eipp.XXXXXXXXXXXX",
-            OPEN   => 0,
-            TMPDIR => 1
-        );
-    }
+    my $options  = shift;
+    my @debs     = @{ $options->{PKGS} // [] };
     my $get_exec = sub {
         my @prefix = ();
         my @opts   = ();
-        if (exists $options->{EIPP_RES}) {
-            push @opts, "-oDir::Log::Planner=$tmpeipp";
-        }
         return (
             @prefix,
             @{ $options->{ARGV} },
@@ -942,60 +931,44 @@ sub run_apt_progress {
         }
     };
     run_progress $get_exec, $line_handler, $line_has_error, $options->{CHDIR};
-    if (exists $options->{EIPP_RES}) {
-        info "parsing EIPP results...";
-        open my $fh, '<', $tmpeipp
-          or error "failed to open $tmpeipp for reading: $!";
-        my $inst = 0;
-        my $pkg;
-        my $arch;
-        my $ver;
-        while (my $line = <$fh>) {
-            chomp $line;
-            if ($line ne "") {
-                if ($line =~ /^Status: .+/) {
-                    $inst = 1;
-                } elsif ($line =~ /^Package: (.*)/) {
-                    $pkg = $1;
-                } elsif ($line =~ /^Architecture: (.*)/) {
-                    $arch = $1;
-                } elsif ($line =~ /^Version: (.*)/) {
-                    $ver = $1;
-                }
-                next;
-            }
-            if ($inst == 0 && defined $pkg && defined $arch && defined $ver) {
-                push @{ $options->{EIPP_RES} }, ["$pkg:$arch", $ver];
-            }
-            $inst = 0;
-            undef $pkg;
-            undef $ver;
-        }
-        close $fh;
-        unlink $tmpeipp;
-    }
     return;
 }
 
 sub run_apt_download_progress {
     my $options = shift;
-    my %result  = shift;
+    my $tmplistofdebs;
     if ($options->{dryrun}) {
         info "simulate downloading packages with apt...";
     } else {
         info "downloading packages with apt...";
+        (undef, $tmplistofdebs) = tempfile(
+            "mmdebstrap.listofdebs.XXXXXXXXXXXX",
+            OPEN   => 0,
+            TMPDIR => 1
+        );
     }
-    return run_apt_progress({
+    run_apt_progress({
             ARGV => [
                 'apt-get',
                 '--yes',
                 '-oDebug::pkgDpkgPm=1',
                 '-oDir::Log=/dev/null',
-                $options->{dryrun} ? '-oAPT::Get::Simulate=true' : (),
+                $options->{dryrun}
+                ? '-oAPT::Get::Simulate=true'
+                : "-oDpkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs::=cat > $tmplistofdebs",
                 @{ $options->{APT_ARGV} },
             ],
-            %result
         });
+    if ($tmplistofdebs) {
+        open my $fh, '<', $tmplistofdebs
+          or error "failed to open $tmplistofdebs for reading: $!";
+        my @listofdebs = <$fh>;
+        close $fh;
+        unlink $tmplistofdebs;
+        chomp(@listofdebs);
+        return @listofdebs;
+    }
+    return [];
 }
 
 sub run_chroot {
@@ -2050,21 +2023,14 @@ sub run_update() {
 sub run_download() {
     my $options = shift;
 
-    # We use /var/cache/apt/archives/ to figure out which packages apt chooses
-    # to install. That's why the directory must be empty if:
-    #  - /var/cache/apt/archives exists, and
-    #  - no simulation run is done, and
-    #  - the variant is not extract or custom or the number to be
-    #    installed packages not zero
-    #
     # In the future we want to replace downloading packages with "apt-get
-    # install --download-only" and installing them with dpkg by just installing
-    # the essential packages with apt from the outside with
-    # DPkg::Chroot-Directory. We are not doing that because then the preinst
-    # script of base-passwd will not be called early enough and packages will
-    # fail to install because they are missing /etc/passwd.
+    # install" and installing them with dpkg by just installing the essential
+    # packages with apt from the outside with DPkg::Chroot-Directory.
+    # We are not doing that because then the preinst script of base-passwd will
+    # not be called early enough and packages will fail to install because they
+    # are missing /etc/passwd.
     my @cached_debs = ();
-    my @dl_debs     = ();
+    my @dl_debs;
     if (
         !$options->{dryrun}
         && ((none { $_ eq $options->{variant} } ('extract', 'custom'))
@@ -2084,14 +2050,6 @@ sub run_download() {
             push @cached_debs, $deb;
         }
         closedir $dh;
-        if (scalar @cached_debs > 0) {
-            if (any { $_ eq 'download/empty' } @{ $options->{skip} }) {
-                info "skipping download/empty as requested";
-            } else {
-                error("/var/cache/apt/archives/ inside the chroot contains: "
-                      . (join ', ', (sort @cached_debs)));
-            }
-        }
     }
 
     # To figure out the right package set for the apt variant we can use:
@@ -2100,14 +2058,6 @@ sub run_download() {
     # apt and libapt treats apt as essential. If we want to install less
     # (essential variant) then we have to compute the package set ourselves.
     # Same if we want to install priority based variants.
-    my %result = ();
-    if (not $options->{dryrun}) {
-        # if there are already packages in /var/cache/apt/archives/,
-        # we need to know which are part of the solution by apt
-        if (scalar @cached_debs > 0) {
-            $result{EIPP_RES} = \@dl_debs;
-        }
-    }
     if (any { $_ eq $options->{variant} } ('extract', 'custom')) {
         if (scalar @{ $options->{include} } == 0) {
             info "nothing to download -- skipping...";
@@ -2126,11 +2076,10 @@ sub run_download() {
             }
         }
 
-        run_apt_download_progress({
+        @dl_debs = run_apt_download_progress({
                 APT_ARGV => @apt_argv,
                 dryrun   => $options->{dryrun},
             },
-            %result
         );
     } elsif ($options->{variant} eq 'apt') {
         # if we just want to install Essential:yes packages, apt and their
@@ -2146,11 +2095,10 @@ sub run_download() {
         #                  remind me in 5+ years that I said that after I wrote
         #                  in the bugreport: "Are you crazy?!? Nobody in his
         #                  right mind would even suggest depending on it!")
-        run_apt_download_progress({
+        @dl_debs = run_apt_download_progress({
                 APT_ARGV => ['dist-upgrade'],
                 dryrun   => $options->{dryrun},
             },
-            %result
         );
     } elsif (
         any { $_ eq $options->{variant} }
@@ -2160,7 +2108,7 @@ sub run_download() {
         # 17:27 < DonKult> (?essential includes 'apt' through)
         # 17:30 < josch> DonKult: no, because pkgCacheGen::ForceEssential ",";
         # 17:32 < DonKult> touché
-        run_apt_download_progress({
+        @dl_debs = run_apt_download_progress({
                 APT_ARGV => [
                     'install',
                     '?narrow('
@@ -2178,75 +2126,26 @@ sub run_download() {
                 ],
                 dryrun => $options->{dryrun},
             },
-            %result
         );
     } else {
         error "unknown variant: $options->{variant}";
     }
 
     my @essential_pkgs;
-    if (scalar @cached_debs > 0 && scalar @dl_debs > 0) {
-        my $archives = "/var/cache/apt/archives/";
-        # for each package in @dl_debs, check if it's in
-        # /var/cache/apt/archives/ and add it to @essential_pkgs
-        foreach my $p (@dl_debs) {
-            my ($pkg, $ver_epoch) = @{$p};
-            # apt appends the architecture at the end of the package name
-            ($pkg, my $arch) = split ':', $pkg, 2;
-            # apt replaces the colon by its percent encoding %3a
-            my $ver = $ver_epoch;
-            $ver =~ s/:/%3a/;
-            # the architecture returned by apt is the native architecture.
-            # Since we don't know whether the package is architecture
-            # independent or not, we first try with the native arch and then
-            # with "all" and only error out if neither exists.
-            if (-e "$options->{root}/$archives/${pkg}_${ver}_$arch.deb") {
-                push @essential_pkgs, "$archives/${pkg}_${ver}_$arch.deb";
-            } elsif (-e "$options->{root}/$archives/${pkg}_${ver}_all.deb") {
-                push @essential_pkgs, "$archives/${pkg}_${ver}_all.deb";
-            } else {
-                error(  "cannot find package for $pkg:$arch (= $ver_epoch) "
-                      . "in /var/cache/apt/archives/");
-            }
-        }
-    } else {
-        # collect the .deb files that were downloaded by apt from the content
-        # of /var/cache/apt/archives/
-        if (!$options->{dryrun}) {
-            my $apt_archives = "/var/cache/apt/archives/";
-            opendir my $dh, "$options->{root}/$apt_archives"
-              or error "cannot read $apt_archives";
-            while (my $deb = readdir $dh) {
-                if ($deb !~ /\.deb$/) {
-                    next;
-                }
-                $deb = "$apt_archives/$deb";
-                if (!-f "$options->{root}/$deb") {
-                    next;
-                }
-                push @essential_pkgs, $deb;
-            }
-            closedir $dh;
-
-            if (scalar @essential_pkgs == 0) {
-                # check if a file:// URI was used
-                open(my $pipe_apt, '-|', 'apt-get', 'indextargets', '--format',
-                    '$(URI)', 'Created-By: Packages')
-                  or error "cannot start apt-get indextargets: $!";
-                while (my $uri = <$pipe_apt>) {
-                    if ($uri =~ /^file:\/\//) {
-                        error
-                          "nothing got downloaded -- use copy:// instead of"
-                          . " file://";
-                    }
-                }
-                error "nothing got downloaded";
-            }
+    # strip the the chroot directory from the filenames
+    foreach my $deb (@dl_debs) {
+        if (rindex $deb, $options->{root}, 0) {
+            error "package file $deb not in chroot directory"
+              . " -- use copy:// instead of file://";
+        }
+        if (-e $deb) {
+            push @essential_pkgs, substr($deb, length($options->{root}));
+        } else {
+            error "cannot find package file $deb";
         }
     }
-    # Unpack order matters. Since we create this list using two different
-    # methods but we want both methods to have the same result, we sort the
-    # list before returning it.
+
+    # Unpack order matters for e.g. timestamps on directories
     @essential_pkgs = sort @essential_pkgs;
 
     return (\@essential_pkgs, \@cached_debs);
@@ -6678,15 +6577,13 @@ the B<setup> step. This can be disabled using B<--skip=update>.
 
 =item B<download>
 
-Checks whether F</var/cache/apt/archives/> is empty. This can be disabled with
-B<--skip=download/empty>. In the B<extract> and B<custom> variants, C<apt-get
---download-only install> is used to download all the packages requested via the
-B<--include> option. The B<apt> variant uses the fact that libapt treats the
-C<apt> packages as implicitly essential to download only all C<Essential:yes>
-packages plus apt using C<apt-get --download-only dist-upgrade>. In the
-remaining variants, all Packages files downloaded by the B<update> step are
-inspected to find the C<Essential:yes> package set as well as all packages of
-the required priority.
+In the B<extract> and B<custom> variants, C<apt-get install> is used to
+download all the packages requested via the B<--include> option. The B<apt>
+variant uses the fact that libapt treats the C<apt> packages as implicitly
+essential to download only all C<Essential:yes> packages plus apt using
+C<apt-get dist-upgrade>. In the remaining variants, all Packages files
+downloaded by the B<update> step are inspected to find the C<Essential:yes>
+package set as well as all packages of the required priority.
 
 =item B<extract>
 
@@ -6914,7 +6811,7 @@ apt-cacher-ng, you can use the B<sync-in> and B<sync-out> special hooks to
 synchronize a directory outside the chroot with F</var/cache/apt/archives>
 inside the chroot.
 
-    $ mmdebstrap --variant=apt --skip=download/empty --skip=essential/unlink \
+    $ mmdebstrap --variant=apt --skip=essential/unlink \
         --setup-hook='mkdir -p ./cache "$1"/var/cache/apt/archives/' \
         --setup-hook='sync-in ./cache /var/cache/apt/archives/' \
         --customize-hook='sync-out /var/cache/apt/archives ./cache' \