diff --git a/kiss b/kiss
index 3e4ad26..52b94c7 100755
--- a/kiss
+++ b/kiss
@@ -935,6 +935,11 @@ pkg_checksums() {
 
         case $_res in */*[!.])
             sh256 "$_res"
+
+            # Store the generated checksums in a string for use internally
+            # without the need for subshells.
+            _hash="$_hash${_hash:+"
+"}$hash"
         esac
     done < "$repo_dir/sources" || die "$1" "Failed to generate checksums"
 }
@@ -1797,15 +1802,14 @@ args() {
                     continue
                 }
 
-                sums=$(pkg_checksums "$pkg")
+                pkg_checksums "$pkg"
 
-                [ "$sums" ] || {
+                [ "$_hash" ] || {
                     log "$pkg" "No sources needing checksums"
                     continue
                 }
 
-                printf '%s\n' "$sums"
-                printf '%s\n' "$sums" > "$repo_dir/checksums"
+                printf '%s\n' "$_hash" > "$repo_dir/checksums"
                 log "$pkg" "Generated checksums"
             done
         ;;