diff --git a/bin/check-versions b/bin/check-versions
index 9849701..925570f 100755
--- a/bin/check-versions
+++ b/bin/check-versions
@@ -79,10 +79,26 @@ get_repo_version() {
   '
 }
 
+# The PKGBUILD's full version (epoch:pkgver-pkgrel) for the architecture being
+# checked. Prints nothing when pkgver or pkgrel cannot be read: a partial
+# version like "-" would compare unequal to everything published and queue a
+# rebuild on every tick, so an unreadable PKGBUILD must not queue at all.
 get_pkgbuild_version() {
   local pkgdir="$1"
-  if [[ -f "$pkgdir/PKGBUILD" ]]; then
-    (cd "$pkgdir" && bash -c 'source PKGBUILD 2>/dev/null; if [[ -n "$epoch" ]]; then echo "${epoch}:${pkgver}-${pkgrel}"; else echo "${pkgver}-${pkgrel}"; fi')
+  local epoch pkgver pkgrel
+
+  [[ -f "$pkgdir/PKGBUILD" ]] || return 1
+
+  epoch=$(package_pkgbuild_var "$pkgdir" epoch "$ARCH")
+  pkgver=$(package_pkgbuild_var "$pkgdir" pkgver "$ARCH")
+  pkgrel=$(package_pkgbuild_var "$pkgdir" pkgrel "$ARCH")
+
+  [[ -n "$pkgver" && -n "$pkgrel" ]] || return 1
+
+  if [[ -n "$epoch" ]]; then
+    echo "${epoch}:${pkgver}-${pkgrel}"
+  else
+    echo "${pkgver}-${pkgrel}"
   fi
 }
 
@@ -97,8 +113,8 @@ check_vcs_unchanged() {
 
   # If epoch or pkgrel changed in PKGBUILD, release even if upstream is unchanged.
   local pkgbuild_epoch pkgbuild_pkgrel
-  pkgbuild_epoch=$(cd "$pkgdir" && bash -c 'source PKGBUILD 2>/dev/null; echo "${epoch:-}"')
-  pkgbuild_pkgrel=$(cd "$pkgdir" && bash -c 'source PKGBUILD 2>/dev/null; echo "${pkgrel}"')
+  pkgbuild_epoch=$(package_pkgbuild_var "$pkgdir" epoch "$ARCH")
+  pkgbuild_pkgrel=$(package_pkgbuild_var "$pkgdir" pkgrel "$ARCH")
 
   local repo_pkgrel="${repo_version##*-}"
   local repo_no_pkgrel="${repo_version%-*}"
@@ -126,12 +142,11 @@ check_package() {
   local mirror="$3"
 
   local pkgbuild_version repo_version
-  pkgbuild_version=$(get_pkgbuild_version "$pkgdir")
-  repo_version=$(get_repo_version "$pkg" "$mirror")
-
-  if [[ -z "$pkgbuild_version" ]]; then
+  if ! pkgbuild_version=$(get_pkgbuild_version "$pkgdir") || [[ -z "$pkgbuild_version" ]]; then
+    print_warning "$pkg: could not read pkgver/pkgrel from its PKGBUILD for $ARCH — not queueing"
     return 1
   fi
+  repo_version=$(get_repo_version "$pkg" "$mirror")
 
   if grep -qE '^pkgver[[:space:]]*\(\)' "$pkgdir/PKGBUILD"; then
     if [[ -n "$repo_version" && -n "$(package_extract_vcs_hash_from_version "$repo_version")" ]]; then
diff --git a/bin/omarchy-pkgs b/bin/omarchy-pkgs
index 0ca607b..b35016f 100755
--- a/bin/omarchy-pkgs
+++ b/bin/omarchy-pkgs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ BUILD_ROOT=$(realpath "${BASH_SOURCE[0]%/*}/..")
 source "$BUILD_ROOT/helpers/message-helpers.sh"
 source "$BUILD_ROOT/helpers/paths.sh"
 source "$BUILD_ROOT/helpers/host-helpers.sh"
+source "$BUILD_ROOT/helpers/package-metadata.sh"
 
 UPSTREAM_URL="${OMARCHY_UPSTREAM_URL:-https://github.com/basecamp/omarchy.git}"
 EDGE_DB_URL="${OMARCHY_EDGE_DB_URL:-https://pkgs.omarchy.org/edge/$(reference_arch)/omarchy.db.tar.zst}"
@@ -92,7 +93,7 @@ version_is_rc() { version_is_prerelease "$1"; }
 
 pkgbuild_var() {
   local pkg="$1" var="$2"
-  (cd "$BUILD_ROOT/pkgbuilds/$pkg" && bash -c "source PKGBUILD 2>/dev/null; echo \"\${$var}\"")
+  package_pkgbuild_var "$BUILD_ROOT/pkgbuilds/$pkg" "$var"
 }
 
 # Prints the published version of $pkg from the edge DB. Distinguishes
diff --git a/bin/sync-rebuilds b/bin/sync-rebuilds
index b9aa81d..3009b89 100755
--- a/bin/sync-rebuilds
+++ b/bin/sync-rebuilds
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ pkgbuild_field() {
   local package_dir="$1"
   local field="$2"
 
-  (cd "$package_dir" && env -u OMARCHY_SRC bash -c "source PKGBUILD 2>/dev/null; echo \"\${$field:-}\"")
+  package_pkgbuild_var "$package_dir" "$field"
 }
 
 # 2 -> 3, and 1.1 -> 1.2. Anything else is a pkgrel this command has no business
@@ -781,6 +781,26 @@ cmd_self_test() {
   unset SELFTEST_ARCHES
   check "pkgrel untouched" 1 "$(pkgrel_of "$root/pkgbuilds/t-x86")"
 
+  echo "A PKGBUILD that branches on CARCH at file scope still reads its version:"
+  root=$(selftest_root carch-branch)
+  mkdir -p "$root/pkgbuilds/t-carch/.omarchy"
+  cat > "$root/pkgbuilds/t-carch/PKGBUILD" <<'PKG'
+pkgname=t-carch
+case "$CARCH" in
+    x86_64) _suffix=x64 ;;
+    aarch64) _suffix=arm64 ;;
+    *) return 1 ;;
+esac
+pkgver=1.0
+pkgrel=3
+arch=(x86_64 aarch64)
+PKG
+  echo '{"source":"local"}' > "$root/pkgbuilds/t-carch/.omarchy/package.json"
+  check "pkgver read for x86_64" "1.0" "$(package_pkgbuild_var "$root/pkgbuilds/t-carch" pkgver x86_64)"
+  check "pkgrel read for x86_64" "3" "$(package_pkgbuild_var "$root/pkgbuilds/t-carch" pkgrel x86_64)"
+  check "arch-specific value follows CARCH" "arm64" "$(package_pkgbuild_var "$root/pkgbuilds/t-carch" _suffix aarch64)"
+  check "unsupported arch reports failure" 1 "$(package_pkgbuild_var "$root/pkgbuilds/t-carch" pkgver armv7h >/dev/null; echo $?)"
+
   echo ""
   if [[ "$failures" -eq 0 ]]; then
     print_success "Self-test passed"
diff --git a/helpers/package-metadata.sh b/helpers/package-metadata.sh
index 043e2fc..564cd2d 100644
--- a/helpers/package-metadata.sh
+++ b/helpers/package-metadata.sh
@@ -144,6 +144,30 @@ package_has_pkgbuild() {
   [[ -f "$pkgdir/PKGBUILD" ]]
 }
 
+# Read one variable from a PKGBUILD the way makepkg would see it.
+#
+# makepkg always exports CARCH, so PKGBUILDs may branch on it at file scope
+# (per-architecture sources, tarball suffixes, even `return` for an
+# unsupported architecture). Sourcing without CARCH takes the wrong branch or
+# aborts partway, which leaves pkgver and pkgrel empty — and an empty version
+# never equals the published one, so the package is queued for a rebuild that
+# promotion then refuses. Every read of a PKGBUILD goes through here.
+#
+# Prints the value; exit status is that of `source PKGBUILD` itself, so a
+# caller can tell "variable empty" from "PKGBUILD could not be read".
+package_pkgbuild_var() {
+  local pkgdir="$1"
+  local var="$2"
+  local arch="${3:-${ARCH:-x86_64}}"
+
+  (cd "$pkgdir" && env -u OMARCHY_SRC CARCH="$arch" bash -c '
+    source PKGBUILD >/dev/null 2>&1
+    rc=$?
+    printf "%s\n" "${!1:-}"
+    exit "$rc"
+  ' _ "$var")
+}
+
 # The architectures declared by a PKGBUILD. Set CARCH while reading it so a
 # conditional arch=() assignment is evaluated for the architecture we are
 # actually checking, even when the repository host is a different one.