diff --git a/bootstrap b/bootstrap
index 1961f67e3fb..f27d72954b8 100755
--- a/bootstrap
+++ b/bootstrap
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ cd "$SAGE_ROOT"
 
 export PATH="$SAGE_ROOT/build/bin:$PATH"
 
-eval $(sage-package properties configure)
+eval $(sage-package properties --format=shell configure)
 PKG=$path_configure
 MAKE="${MAKE:-make}"
 CONFVERSION=$version_configure
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ bootstrap () {
     for a in m4/sage_spkg_versions.m4 m4/sage_spkg_versions_toml.m4; do
         echo 'changequote(`>>>'"'"', `<<<'"')dnl" >> $a
     done
-    eval $(sage-package properties :all:)
+    eval $(sage-package properties --format=shell :all:)
     spkg_configures=""
     # initialize SAGE_ENABLE... options for standard packages
     for pkgname in $(sage-package list :standard:); do
diff --git a/bootstrap-conda b/bootstrap-conda
index d7b0d9f14e8..a07a4150f8f 100755
--- a/bootstrap-conda
+++ b/bootstrap-conda
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ SAGELIB_PACKAGES=
 SAGELIB_OPTIONAL_PACKAGES=
 DEVELOP_PACKAGES=
 
-eval $(sage-package properties :all:)
+eval $(sage-package properties --format=shell :all:)
 
 for PKG_BASE in $(sage-package list --has-file distros/conda.txt --exclude _sagemath); do
     eval PKG_SCRIPTS=\$path_$PKG_BASE PKG_TYPE=\$type_$PKG_BASE
diff --git a/m4/sage_spkg_collect.m4 b/m4/sage_spkg_collect.m4
index f3f9624bfe5..7d4d9ec20b2 100644
--- a/m4/sage_spkg_collect.m4
+++ b/m4/sage_spkg_collect.m4
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ AC_DEFUN([SAGE_SPKG_COLLECT_INIT], [
 dnl Intialize the collection variables.
 SPKGS="$1"
 dnl Obtain dependencies and versions at configure time.
-AS_IF([eval $($SAGE_BOOTSTRAP_PYTHON build/bin/sage-package dependencies --format=shell $SPKGS) && eval $($SAGE_BOOTSTRAP_PYTHON build/bin/sage-package properties $SPKGS)], [], [
+AS_IF([eval $($SAGE_BOOTSTRAP_PYTHON build/bin/sage-package dependencies --format=shell $SPKGS) && eval $($SAGE_BOOTSTRAP_PYTHON build/bin/sage-package properties --format=shell $SPKGS)], [], [
     AC_MSG_ERROR([Package directory missing. Re-run bootstrap.])dnl
 ])