diff --git a/nixpatches/list.nix b/nixpatches/list.nix
index 7896b85de..7d588fbb0 100644
--- a/nixpatches/list.nix
+++ b/nixpatches/list.nix
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ let
       // (if title != null then { name = title; } else {})
     ) else null;
 in [
+  # if a patch has been merged, use
+  #   merged.staging = "<date>";
+  #   merged.master = "<date>";
+  # etc, where "date" is like "20240228181608"
+  # and can be found with `nix-repl  > :lf .  > lastModifiedDate`
   (fetchpatch' {
     prUrl = "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/291806";
     title = "swaynotificationcenter: support cross compilation";
@@ -43,6 +48,7 @@ in [
     prUrl = "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/291942";
     title = "imagemagick, graphicsmagick: remove build coreutils from cross-compiled output";
     hash = "sha256-jUtMmT4d+/6hZgrpXhfBcToAfdecl7xtEj1d/ofxaIM=";
+    merged.staging = "20240228181608";
   })
   (fetchpatch' {
     prUrl = "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/291947";
diff --git a/overlays/cross.nix b/overlays/cross.nix
index beb2b4fe3..a7c7edc96 100644
--- a/overlays/cross.nix
+++ b/overlays/cross.nix
@@ -1021,17 +1021,6 @@ in with final; {
     '';
   });
 
-  # 2024/02/27: upstreaming is unblocked
-  # this patch isn't strictly necessary: it mostly just removes build tools from the runtime closure
-  # out for PR: <https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/291942>
-  # graphicsmagick = prev.graphicsmagick.overrideAttrs (upstream: {
-  #   # by default the build holds onto a reference to build `mv`
-  #   # N.B.: `imagemagick` package has this identical issue (but requires a different fix?)
-  #   configureFlags = upstream.configureFlags ++ [
-  #     "MVDelegate=${coreutils}/bin/mv"
-  #   ];
-  # });
-
   # fixes: "make: gcc: No such file or directory"
   # java-service-wrapper = useEmulatedStdenv prev.java-service-wrapper;