diff --git a/etc/README b/etc/README
index 6a7abe1..ba49f75 100644
--- a/etc/README
+++ b/etc/README
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ A Midipix distribution consists of the following:
   libraries such as ncurses, libressl, as well as Perl and Python.
 
 ## Build-time dependencies
-* **Alpine Linux**: binutils bzip2 cmake coreutils findutils g++ gawk gcc git grep gzip libc-dev linux-headers lzip make musl-dev net-tools openssl patch procps sed tar wget xz zip
-* **Debian/-derived Linux**: binutils bzip2 clzip cmake coreutils curl findutils g++ gawk gcc git grep gzip hostname libc6-dev lzma make openssl patch procps sed tar wget xz-utils zip
+* **Alpine Linux**: binutils bzip2 cmake coreutils findutils g++ gawk gcc git grep gzip libc-dev linux-headers lzip make musl-dev net-tools patch procps sed tar wget xz zip
+* **Debian/-derived Linux**: binutils bzip2 clzip cmake coreutils curl findutils g++ gawk gcc git grep gzip hostname libc6-dev lzma make patch procps sed tar wget xz-utils zip
 
 > N.B. Some packages (*coreutils*, *grep*, and *tar*, among others) override
 Alpine's BusyBox utilities of the same name, as the latter are either non-
diff --git a/subr/build_init.subr b/subr/build_init.subr
index 8e3adca..ef0a215 100644
--- a/subr/build_init.subr
+++ b/subr/build_init.subr
@@ -164,9 +164,9 @@ buildp_init_prereqs() {
 	if ! which	\
 			awk bunzip2 cat chmod cp date find git grep		\
 			gunzip gzip hostname install kill ln lzip make		\
-			mkdir mkfifo mv openssl paste patch pgrep pkill		\
-			printf readlink rm sed seq sort stat tail tar		\
-			test touch tr wget xz >/dev/null; then
+			mkdir mkfifo mv paste patch pgrep pkill printf		\
+			readlink rm sed seq sha256sum sort stat tail		\
+			tar test touch tr wget xz >/dev/null; then
 		_rc=4; _status="Error: missing prerequisite package(s).";
 	elif ! awk -V 2>/dev/null | grep -q "^GNU Awk "; then
 		_rc=5; _status="Error: awk(1) in \$PATH must be GNU Awk.";
diff --git a/subr/ex_rtl_fetch.subr b/subr/ex_rtl_fetch.subr
index 19c0d0d..8aaebf6 100644
--- a/subr/ex_rtl_fetch.subr
+++ b/subr/ex_rtl_fetch.subr
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ ex_rtl_fetch_url_wget() {
 	if [ ! -e "${_url_dst}.fetched" ]; then
 		wget ${DEFAULT_WGET_ARGS} -O "${_url_dst}" "${_url}";
 		if [ -n "${_sha256sum_src}" ]; then
-			set -- $(openssl dgst -sha256 "${_url_dst}"); shift $((${#}-1));
+			set -- $(sha256sum "${_url_dst}");
 			if [ "${_sha256sum_dst:=${1}}" != "${_sha256sum_src}" ]; then
 				ex_rtl_log_msg failexit "Error: hash mismatch for URL \`${_url}' (downloaded file: ${_sha256sum_dst}, from build variables: ${_sha256sum_src}.)";
 			fi;