diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index e8153c1..72ce331 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -266,15 +266,15 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		break;
 	case PKG_SHPKGCONT_CMD: /* show remote package content */
 		missing_param(argc, 2, MSG_MISSING_PKGNAME);
-		show_pkg_info('L', argv[1]); /* pkg_info flag */
+		rc = show_pkg_info('L', argv[1]); /* pkg_info flag */
 		break;
 	case PKG_SHPKGDESC_CMD: /* show remote package DESCR */
 		missing_param(argc, 2, MSG_MISSING_PKGNAME);
-		show_pkg_info('d', argv[1]); /* pkg_info flag */
+		rc = show_pkg_info('d', argv[1]); /* pkg_info flag */
 		break;
 	case PKG_SHPKGBDEFS_CMD: /* show remote package build definitions */
 		missing_param(argc, 2, MSG_MISSING_PKGNAME);
-		show_pkg_info('B', argv[1]); /* pkg_info flag */
+		rc = show_pkg_info('B', argv[1]); /* pkg_info flag */
 		break;
 	case PKG_SHCAT_CMD: /* show packages belonging to a category */
 		missing_param(argc, 2, MSG_MISSING_CATEGORY);
diff --git a/pkg_infos.c b/pkg_infos.c
index fcd68e9..8486800 100644
--- a/pkg_infos.c
+++ b/pkg_infos.c
@@ -29,11 +29,12 @@
 
 #include "pkgin.h"
 
-void
+int
 show_pkg_info(char flag, char *pkgname)
 {
-	int		i;
-	char	cmd[BUFSIZ], *fullpkgname, **prepos, **out_cmd = NULL;
+	FILE	*fp;
+	int	rv = 0;
+	char	buf[MAXLEN], cmd[BUFSIZ], *fullpkgname, **prepos;
 
 	if ((fullpkgname = unique_pkg(pkgname, REMOTE_PKG)) == NULL)
 		errx(EXIT_FAILURE, MSG_PKG_NOT_AVAIL, pkgname);	
@@ -43,16 +44,21 @@ show_pkg_info(char flag, char *pkgname)
 		snprintf(cmd, BUFSIZ, "%s -%c %s/%s%s",
 		    pkg_info, flag, *prepos, fullpkgname, PKG_EXT);
 
-		if ((out_cmd = exec_list(cmd, NULL)) == NULL)
-			continue;
+	        if ((fp = popen(cmd, "r")) == NULL)
+			return 1;
 
-		for (i = 0; out_cmd[i] != NULL; i++)	
-			printf("%s\n", out_cmd[i]);
+		/*
+		 * Historically pkgin skipped blank lines, so we preserve
+		 * that behaviour for now.
+		 */
+		while (fgets(buf, MAXLEN, fp) != NULL) {
+			if (buf[0] != '\n')
+				printf("%s", buf);
+		}
 
-		free_list(out_cmd);
+		if (pclose(fp) != 0)
+			rv = 1;
 	}
 
-	XFREE(fullpkgname);
-
-	return;
+	return rv;
 }
diff --git a/pkgin.h b/pkgin.h
index 735fd2b..f464913 100644
--- a/pkgin.h
+++ b/pkgin.h
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ int		pkg_met_reqs(Plisthead *);
 int		pkg_has_conflicts(Pkglist *);
 void		show_prov_req(const char *, const char *);
 /* pkg_infos.c */
-void		show_pkg_info(char, char *);
+int		show_pkg_info(char, char *);
 
 /* pkg_install.c */
 extern char	*pkg_install_dir;
diff --git a/tools.c b/tools.c
index 156b28d..c9a8d80 100644
--- a/tools.c
+++ b/tools.c
@@ -62,37 +62,6 @@ trimcr(char *str)
 	return (0);
 }
 
-char **
-splitstr(char *str, const char *sep)
-{
-	size_t size;
-	int i;
-	char *p, *tmp, **split;
-
-	for (i = 0, size = 0; str[i] != '\0'; i++)
-		if (str[i] == *sep)
-			size++;
-
-	/* size = number of separators + 1 member + NULL */
-	size += 2;
-	split = xmalloc(size * sizeof(char *));
-
-	i = 0;
-	for (p = str; p != NULL;)
-		while ((tmp = strsep(&p, sep)) != NULL) {
-			if (*tmp != '\0') {
-				while (*tmp == ' ' || *tmp == '\t')
-					tmp++;
-				split[i] = xstrdup(tmp);
-				i++;
-			}
-		}
-
-	split[i] = NULL;
-
-	return(split);
-}
-
 void
 free_list(char **list)
 {
@@ -122,39 +91,6 @@ trunc_str(char *str, char limit, int direction)
 	}
 }
 
-/* execute a command and receive result on a char ** */
-char **
-exec_list(const char *cmd, const char *match)
-{
-	FILE *fp;
-	size_t size;
-	char **res, *rawlist, buf[MAXLEN];
-
-	if ((fp = popen(cmd, "r")) == NULL)
-		return(NULL);
-
-	rawlist = NULL;
-	size = 0;
-
-	while (fgets(buf, MAXLEN, fp) != NULL) {
-		if (match == NULL || strstr(buf, match) != NULL) {
-			size += (strlen(buf) + 1) * sizeof(char);
-
-			rawlist = xrealloc(rawlist,  size);
-			strlcat(rawlist, buf, size);
-		}
-	}
-	pclose(fp);
-
-	if (rawlist == NULL)
-		return(NULL);
-
-	res = splitstr(rawlist, "\n");
-	XFREE(rawlist);
-
-	return(res);
-}
-
 void
 do_log(const char *path, const char *fmt, ...)
 {
diff --git a/tools.h b/tools.h
index c8f1fdc..e774c2c 100644
--- a/tools.h
+++ b/tools.h
@@ -159,9 +159,7 @@ extern uint8_t noflag;
 
 extern int charcount(char *, char);
 extern int trimcr(char *);
-extern char **splitstr(char *, const char *);
 extern void free_list(char **);
-extern char **exec_list(const char *, const char *);
 extern void do_log(const char *, const char *, ...);
 extern void trunc_str(char *, char, int);
 extern char *strreplace(char *, const char *, const char *);