Things should be the same whether dependencies are specified or not. $ . ./helpers.sh $ make_lockdir If we have a package we depend on $ mkdir dependency-source $ cat >dune.lock/dependency.pkg < (version 0.0.1) > (source (copy $PWD/dependency-source)) > EOF And we have a package we want to build $ mkdir test-source $ cat >dune.lock/test.pkg < (version 0.0.1) > (source (copy $PWD/test-source)) > (build > (system "command -v cat > /dev/null 2>&1 || echo no cat")) > EOF $ build_pkg test Now it fails since adding the dependency modified PATH. $ cat >dune.lock/test.pkg < (version 0.0.1) > (source (copy $PWD/test-source)) > ; adding deps breaks cat > (depends dependency) > (build > (system "command -v cat > /dev/null 2>&1 || echo no cat")) > EOF $ build_pkg test