diff --git a/packages/apt_install_packages.sh b/packages/apt_install_packages.sh
index b84525debd4..a41ae739d6f 100755
--- a/packages/apt_install_packages.sh
+++ b/packages/apt_install_packages.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 set -eu
 [ -n "${DEBUG:-}" ] && set -x
 srcdir="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
+set -x
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC1090,SC1091
 . "$srcdir/lib/utils-bourne.sh"
@@ -114,6 +115,7 @@ packages="$(echo "$packages" | tr ' ' ' \n' | sort -u | tr '\n' ' ')"
 
 export NEEDRESTART_MODE=a
 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+export DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical
 
 # requires fuser which might not already be installed, catch-22 situation if wanting to use this for everything including bootstraps
 #"$srcdir/apt_wait.sh"