diff --git a/abuild b/abuild
index c047000..574a70c 100755
--- a/abuild
+++ b/abuild
@@ -59,10 +59,6 @@ sanitycheck() {
 		die "Number of md5sums does not correspond to number of sources"
 	fi
 
-	if [ "$(echo $subpackages | wc -w)" -ne "$(echo $splitfuncs | wc -w)" ]; then
-		die "Number of subpackages does not correspond to number of splitfuncs"
-	fi
-
 	# common spelling errors
 	[ -n "$depend" ] && die "APKBUILD contains 'depend'. It should be depends"
 	[ -n "$makedepend" ] && die "APKBUILD contains 'makedepend'. It should be makedepends"
@@ -145,8 +141,8 @@ clean() {
 	rm -rf "$srcdir"
 	rm -rf "$pkgdir"
 	local i
-	for i in $splitfuncs; do
-		rm -rf "$pkgdir-$i"
+	for i in $subpackages; do
+		rm -rf "$pkgdir-$(get_split_func $i)"
 	done
 }
 
@@ -180,17 +176,26 @@ build() {
 	die "No build() function found in $APKBUILD"
 }
 
+get_split_func() {
+	# get the 'func' from "sub-pkg:func"
+	local func=${1##*:}
+
+	# get 'func' from "sub-pkg-func" if there was no :func
+	[ "$func" = "$1" ] && func=${func##*-}
+	echo $func
+}
+
 subpkg() {
-	if [ -z "$splitfuncs" ] && [ -z "$subpackages" ]; then
+	if [ -z "$subpackages" ]; then
 		return 0
 	fi
 	local i
 	cd "$startdir"
-	set $splitfuncs
 	for i in $subpackages; do
-		subpkgdir="$startdir/pkg-$1" subpkgname="$i" $0 $1 package \
-			|| return 1
-		shift
+		local func=$(get_split_func $i)
+		# call abuild recursively, setting subpkg{dir,name}
+		subpkgdir="$startdir/pkg-$func" subpkgname="$i" \
+			$0 $func package || return 1
 	done
 }
 
@@ -387,9 +392,8 @@ shift $(( $OPTIND - 1 ))
 [ -f "$APKBUILD" ] || die "Could not find $APKBUILD (PWD=$PWD)"
 . "$APKBUILD"
 
-# If we are handling a sub package then reset splitfuncs and subpackages
+# If we are handling a sub package then reset subpackages
 if [ -n "$subpkgname" ]; then
-	splitfuncs=
 	subpackages=
 fi