diff --git a/multistrap b/multistrap
index 75566f6..afbc7a3 100755
--- a/multistrap
+++ b/multistrap
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ setlocale(LC_MESSAGES, "");
 textdomain("multistrap");
 $progname = basename($0);
 $ourversion = &our_version();
-$unpack = "false";
+$unpack = "true";
 %omitdebsrc=();
 
 while( @ARGV ) {
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ die (sprintf (_g("apt download failed. Exit value: %d\n"),($retval/256)))
 &force_unpack if ($unpack eq "true");
 system ("touch ${dir}${libdir}lists/lock");
 system ("$setupsh $dir $arch") if ((defined $setupsh) and (-x $setupsh));
-&native if (not defined ($foreign));
+&native if (not defined ($foreign) and $unpack eq "true");
 &add_extra_packages;
 system ("cp $configsh $dir/") if ((defined $configsh) and (-f $configsh));
 (not defined $tidy) ? system ("apt-get $config_str update") : &tidy_apt;
@@ -856,10 +856,8 @@ sub cascade {
 			$dir = $keys{$section}{'directory'}
 				if (defined $keys{$section}{'directory'} and (not defined $dir));
 			# support the original value but replace by new value.
-			$unpack = lc($keys{$section}{'unpack'})
-				if (defined $keys{$section}{'forceunpack'} and (lc($keys{$section}{'forceunpack'}) eq "true"));
-			$unpack = lc($keys{$section}{'unpack'})
-				if (defined $keys{$section}{'unpack'} and (lc($keys{$section}{'unpack'} eq "true")));
+			$unpack = "false" if (defined $keys{$section}{'forceunpack'} and (lc($keys{$section}{'forceunpack'}) ne "true"));
+			$unpack = "false" if (defined $keys{$section}{'unpack'} and (lc($keys{$section}{'unpack'} ne "true")));
 			$configsh = lc($keys{$section}{'configscript'})
 				if (defined $keys{$section}{'configscript'} and (not defined $configsh));
 			$tgzname = lc($keys{$section}{'tarballname'})
@@ -1059,7 +1057,11 @@ sub dump_config {
 	} else {
 		$msg .= sprintf(_g("Cannot determine directory from '%s'.\n"), $file);
 	}
-	printf ("unpack:\t\t\t"._g("extract all downloaded archives: %s\n"), $unpack) if (defined $unpack);
+	if ($unpack eq "true") {
+		printf ("unpack:\t\t\t"._g("extract all downloaded archives: %s\n"), $unpack);
+	} else {
+		printf ("unpack:\t\t\t"._g("extract all downloaded archives: %s\n"), "false");
+	}
 	print "configscript:\t\t$configsh\n" if (defined $configsh);
 	printf ("setupscript:\t\t%s: %s",_g("Script to be run after unpacking"),"$setupsh\n") if (defined $setupsh);
 	if (defined $omitrequired) {