diff --git a/kiss b/kiss
index 6b3e8c0..af887b5 100755
--- a/kiss
+++ b/kiss
@@ -957,7 +957,7 @@ pkg_install() {
     log "$pkg_name" "Extracting $tar_file"
 
     # The tarball is extracted to a temporary directory where its
-    # contents are then "installed" to the filesystem using 'rsync'.
+    # contents are then "installed" to the filesystem.
     #
     # Running this step as soon as possible allows us to also check
     # the validity of the tarball and bail out early if needed.
@@ -1002,25 +1002,24 @@ pkg_install() {
     cp -f "$sys_db/$pkg_name/manifest" "$mak_dir/m" 2>/dev/null ||:
     cp -f "$sys_db/$pkg_name/etcsums"  "$mak_dir/c" 2>/dev/null ||:
 
-    # This rsync command is used to install the tarball's contents to the
-    # filesystem. Your first thought is most probably something along these
-    # lines; "Why don't you just use tar extraction for installation directly?"
+    # Ensure that the tarball's manifest is correct by checking that
+    # each file and directory inside of it actually exists.
     #
-    # The tar command has no real standard for available features, command-line
-    # flags or behavior. This makes satisfying the requirements for installation
-    # difficult and error-prone across implementations of tar.
-    #
-    # We need to exclude /etc from the tarball, ensure permissions are all owned
-    # by root:root, dump suid/guid permissions from directories and overwrite
-    # all existing files.
-    #
-    # Rsync ticks all boxes here and it being a "single implementation" of itself
-    # ensures portability everywhere so long as rsync is available. To top it all
-    # off, rsync is really handy to have around regardless.
-    pkg_rsync() { rsync --chown=root:root --chmod=Du-s,Dg-s,Do-s \
-                        -WhHKa --no-compress --exclude /etc "$1" \
-                        "$tar_dir/$pkg_name/" "$KISS_ROOT/"; }
-    pkg_rsync --info=progress2
+    # The 'awk' command simply reverses the contents of the file so that
+    # directories are listed first.
+    awk '{L[n++]=$0}END{while(n--)print L[n]}' \
+        "$tar_dir/$pkg_name/$pkg_db/$pkg_name/manifest" |
+
+    while read -r line; do
+        perms=$(stat -c %a "$tar_dir/$pkg_name/$line")
+
+        case $line in 
+            */) [ -d "$line" ] || mkdir -m "$perms" "$line" ;;
+             *) cp -Pp "$tar_dir/$pkg_name/$line" "${line%/*}" ;;
+        esac
+
+        chown root:root "$line"
+    done
 
     # Handle /etc/ files in a special way (via a 3-way checksum) to determine
     # how these files should be installed. Do we overwrite the existing file?
@@ -1061,13 +1060,19 @@ pkg_install() {
         fi
     done ||:
 
-    # Install the package an additional two times. The first being to fix
-    # any potential issues (rare) with the above removal of old files. 
-    # The second rsync call confirms that nothing else need to be done.
-    #
-    # This takes zero time at all if unneeded as rsync is incremental.
-    # If there is nothing to be done, nothing will be done.
-    { pkg_rsync --; pkg_rsync --; } ||:
+    awk '{L[n++]=$0}END{while(n--)print L[n]}' \
+        "$tar_dir/$pkg_name/$pkg_db/$pkg_name/manifest" |
+
+    while read -r line; do
+        perms=$(stat -c %a "$tar_dir/$pkg_name/$line")
+
+        case $line in 
+            */) [ -d "$line" ] || mkdir -m "$perms" "$line" ;;
+             *) [ -e "$line" ] || cp -p "$tar_dir/$pkg_name/$line" "${line%/*}" 
+        esac
+
+        chown root:root "$line"
+    done
 
     # Reset 'trap' to its original value. Installation is done so
     # we no longer need to block 'Ctrl+C'.