diff --git a/tools/pkg_add b/tools/pkg_add
index 05fdb99..b88885d 100755
--- a/tools/pkg_add
+++ b/tools/pkg_add
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ function debian_update_repo {
 function debian_add {
   debian_update_repo
   declare -a wanted=("$@")
-  declare -a unrecognized=()
   declare -a missing=()
   mapfile -t queries < <(dpkg-query -W -f='${Package}: ${Status}\n' "${wanted[@]}" 2>&1 || true)
 
@@ -29,15 +28,13 @@ function debian_add {
   local missing_regex='(.*): .* not-installed$'
   for query in "${queries[@]}"; do
     if [[ "$query" =~ $unrecognized_regex ]]; then
-      unrecognized+=("${BASH_REMATCH[1]}")
+      missing+=("${BASH_REMATCH[1]}")
     elif [[ "$query" =~ $missing_regex ]]; then
       missing+=("${BASH_REMATCH[1]}")
     fi
   done
 
-  if [[ ${#unrecognized[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
-    >&2 echo "$(basename "$0") error: unrecognized packages: ${unrecognized[*]}" && return 2
-  elif [[ "${#missing[@]}" -gt 0 ]]; then
+  if [[ "${#missing[@]}" -gt 0 ]]; then
     echo installing packages: "${missing[@]}"
     apt-get install -y "${missing[@]}"
   fi