diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go
index 9a24733768..bf91bb74ad 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go
@@ -1507,13 +1507,7 @@ func isStale(p *Package) (bool, string) {
 	// Package is stale if a dependency is.
 	for _, p1 := range p.Internal.Deps {
 		if p1.Stale {
-			// Don't add "stale dependency" if it is
-			// already there.
-			if strings.HasPrefix(p1.StaleReason, "stale dependency") {
-				return true, p1.StaleReason
-			}
-			msg := fmt.Sprintf("stale dependency %s: %s", p1.Name, p1.StaleReason)
-			return true, msg
+			return true, "stale dependency"
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -1551,8 +1545,7 @@ func isStale(p *Package) (bool, string) {
 	// Package is stale if a dependency is, or if a dependency is newer.
 	for _, p1 := range p.Internal.Deps {
 		if p1.Internal.Target != "" && olderThan(p1.Internal.Target) {
-			msg := fmt.Sprintf("newer dependency %s ", p1.Internal.Target)
-			return true, msg
+			return true, "newer dependency"
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -1619,8 +1612,7 @@ func isStale(p *Package) (bool, string) {
 	srcs := str.StringList(p.GoFiles, p.CFiles, p.CXXFiles, p.MFiles, p.HFiles, p.FFiles, p.SFiles, p.CgoFiles, p.SysoFiles, p.SwigFiles, p.SwigCXXFiles)
 	for _, src := range srcs {
 		if olderThan(filepath.Join(p.Dir, src)) {
-			msg := fmt.Sprintf("newer source file %s", filepath.Join(p.Dir, src))
-			return true, msg
+			return true, "newer source file"
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/runtime/crash_test.go b/src/runtime/crash_test.go
index 26161fda8d..8813c3655a 100644
--- a/src/runtime/crash_test.go
+++ b/src/runtime/crash_test.go
@@ -170,9 +170,6 @@ func checkStaleRuntime(t *testing.T) {
 				t.Logf("go list -f {{.StaleReason}} failed: %v", err)
 			}
 			t.Logf("go list -f {{.StaleReason}} runtime:\n%s", out)
-			out, err = testEnv(exec.Command("ls", "-lR", "--full-time", runtime.GOROOT())).CombinedOutput()
-			t.Logf("%s", out)
-
 			staleRuntimeErr = fmt.Errorf("Stale runtime.a. Run 'go install runtime'.")
 		}
 	})