diff --git a/golang/cosmos/Makefile b/golang/cosmos/Makefile
index 4f49947a006..64c1cb05ea7 100644
--- a/golang/cosmos/Makefile
+++ b/golang/cosmos/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-NAME := $(shell sed -ne 's/.*"name": "\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' package.json)
-VERSION := $(shell sed -ne 's/.*"version": "\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' package.json)
+NAME := $(shell node -e 'console.log(require("./package.json").name)')
+VERSION := $(shell node -e 'console.log(require("./package.json").version)')
 COMMIT = $(shell hash=`git rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null`; if test -n "$$hash"; then echo $$hash`git diff --quiet || echo -dirty`; else cat git-revision.txt; fi)
 
 default: all
diff --git a/packages/deployment/Makefile b/packages/deployment/Makefile
index 0ecb501a8da..af3d973ad62 100644
--- a/packages/deployment/Makefile
+++ b/packages/deployment/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 REPOSITORY = agoric/cosmic-swingset
 REPOSITORY_SDK = agoric/agoric-sdk
 SS := ../cosmic-swingset/
-TAG := $(shell test ! -f ../../package.json || sed -ne 's/.*"version": "\(.*\)".*/\1/p' ../../package.json)
+VERSION := $(shell node -e 'console.log(require("../../package.json").version)' 2>/dev/null)
+
+TAG := $(if $(VERSION),$(VERSION),latest)
 
 # Don't push alpha tags as ":$(TAG)".
+ifeq ($(TAG),latest)
+DONT_PUSH_LATEST := :
+else
 DONT_PUSH_LATEST := $(if $(findstring -,$(TAG)),:,)
+endif
 
 docker-show-fat:
 	date > show-fat-bust-cache.stamp