diff --git a/packages/default.do b/packages/default.do
index 233ed24..aa6b525 100644
--- a/packages/default.do
+++ b/packages/default.do
@@ -4,30 +4,6 @@ case "$1" in
         for d in src/*.js; do [ -f "$d" ] && echo lib/$(basename "$d"); done | xargs redo-ifchange
         for d in *.webpack.config.js
         do
-            depifchange=''
-            depifcreate=''
-            for dep in $(cat package.json | \
-                             jq -r '.dependencies | to_entries[].key' | \
-                             fgrep '@syndicate-lang/' | \
-                             sed -e 's:^@syndicate-lang/::' | \
-                             fgrep -v 'core') ## core doesn't have any compilation step
-            do
-                for srcfile in ../$dep/src/*.js
-                do
-                    if [ -f $srcfile ]
-                    then
-                        libfile=$(echo $srcfile | sed -e 's:/src/:/lib/:')
-                        if [ -f $libfile ]
-                        then
-                            depifchange="$depifchange $libfile"
-                        else
-                            depifcreate="$depifcreate $libfile"
-                        fi
-                    fi
-                done
-            done
-            redo-ifchange $depifchange
-            redo-ifchange $depifcreate
             [ -f "$d" ] && echo dist/$(basename "$d" .webpack.config.js).js
         done | xargs redo-ifchange
         [ -f _all.do ] && redo-ifchange _all || true
diff --git a/packages/default.js.do b/packages/default.js.do
index 10b1eb6..fb7e6a5 100644
--- a/packages/default.js.do
+++ b/packages/default.js.do
@@ -21,6 +21,30 @@ case "$1" in
         npx syndicate-babel "src/$file"
         ;;
     */dist/*)
+        # Conservatively assume the distribution depends on ALL the
+        # local source files PLUS the lib/*.js of dependent syndicate
+        # packages, other than core which has src/*.js files instead.
+        #
+        for d in src/*.js; do echo lib/$(basename $d); done | xargs redo-ifchange
+        for dep in $(cat package.json | \
+                         jq -r '.dependencies | to_entries[].key' | \
+                         fgrep '@syndicate-lang/' | \
+                         sed -e 's:^@syndicate-lang/::')
+        do
+            for srcfile in ../$dep/src/*.js
+            do
+                if [ -f $srcfile ]
+                then
+                    if [ "$dep" = "core" ]
+                    then
+                        echo $srcfile
+                    else
+                        libfile=$(echo $srcfile | sed -e 's:/src/:/lib/:')
+                        echo $libfile
+                    fi
+                fi
+            done
+        done | redo-ifchange
         configfile=$(basename "$1" .js).webpack.config.js
         redo-ifchange $configfile
         for maybedep in $(npx webpack --config "$configfile" --json -o "$targettempfile" | jq -r '.modules[].identifier')