diff --git a/setup/scripts/install-packages b/setup/scripts/install-packages
index e820a7d..c2f28a8 100755
--- a/setup/scripts/install-packages
+++ b/setup/scripts/install-packages
@@ -33,9 +33,13 @@ packages_in() {
 #
 # So the ordering rule for this file: anything that can fail for a reason
 # outside this repository goes below the desktop, and goes through here.
+# stdout only. Swallowing stderr here would hide the one line that says WHY a
+# step was stepped over -- and worse, every one of these runs under sudo, whose
+# password prompt is the thing you would be hiding on a machine that asks for
+# one.
 soft() {
 	local what="$1"; shift
-	"$@" >/dev/null 2>&1 || { log "$what did not complete; continuing"; softly_failed+=("$what"); }
+	"$@" >/dev/null || { log "$what did not complete; continuing"; softly_failed+=("$what"); }
 }
 softly_failed=()