diff --git a/setup/packages/desktop-packages b/setup/packages/desktop-packages
index a98f72b..e2ae307 100644
--- a/setup/packages/desktop-packages
+++ b/setup/packages/desktop-packages
@@ -8,7 +8,12 @@ decibels
 espanso-wayland
 desktop-file-utils
 dnf-plugins-core
-ffmpeg
+# ffmpeg is deliberately NOT here: Fedora ships ffmpeg-free, and installing
+# RPM Fusion's ffmpeg over it is a CONFLICT, not an addition -- dnf refuses
+# the whole transaction rather than erase the preinstalled one. The codec
+# section swaps ffmpeg-free -> ffmpeg with --allowerasing, which is the only
+# correct way to make that trade. A fresh Workstation install found this; a
+# machine that already had ffmpeg never would.
 firamono-nerd-fonts
 # A second engine to check pages against; Helium is the daily driver. Its
 # chrome is themed from config/firefox, which link-dotfiles places into the
diff --git a/setup/scripts/install-packages b/setup/scripts/install-packages
index c280d3f..cc059b0 100755
--- a/setup/scripts/install-packages
+++ b/setup/scripts/install-packages
@@ -28,9 +28,14 @@ packages_in() {
 report_missing() {
 	local file="$1" name missing=()
 	for name in $(packages_in "$file"); do
-		# --whatprovides, because several list entries are capabilities a
-		# differently-named package satisfies: awk is gawk, wget is wget2-wget.
-		rpm -q --whatprovides "$name" >/dev/null 2>&1 || missing+=("$name")
+		# Three ways a list entry can be satisfied: it is a package name
+		# (rpm -q), a capability another package provides (--whatprovides,
+		# e.g. wget -> wget2-wget), or a bare command name provided as a file
+		# path (command -v, e.g. awk -> /usr/bin/awk from gawk, which
+		# --whatprovides misses because the provide is the path, not the word).
+		rpm -q --whatprovides "$name" >/dev/null 2>&1 && continue
+		command -v "$name" >/dev/null 2>&1 && continue
+		missing+=("$name")
 	done
 	(( ${#missing[@]} > 0 )) && log "WARNING: not available on this machine: ${missing[*]}"
 	return 0