diff --git a/hosts/common/cross.nix b/hosts/common/cross.nix
index a6b076bc..66cf47ea 100644
--- a/hosts/common/cross.nix
+++ b/hosts/common/cross.nix
@@ -1,22 +1,71 @@
 { config, ... }:
 
 let
-  mkCrossFrom = localSystem: pkgs: import pkgs.path {
-    inherit localSystem;
-    crossSystem = pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system;
-    inherit (config.nixpkgs) config overlays;
-  };
+  # these are the overlays which we *also* pass through to the cross and emulated package sets.
+  # TODO: refactor to not specify same overlay in multiple places (here and flake.nix).
+  overlays = [
+    (import ./../../overlays/pkgs.nix)
+    (import ./../../overlays/pins.nix)
+  ];
+  mkCrossFrom = localSystem: pkgs:
+    import pkgs.path {
+      inherit localSystem;  # localSystem is equivalent to buildPlatform
+      crossSystem = pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system;
+      inherit (config.nixpkgs) config;
+      inherit overlays;
+    };
+  mkEmulated = pkgs:
+    import pkgs.path {
+      localSystem = pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system;
+      inherit (config.nixpkgs) config;
+      inherit overlays;
+    };
 in
 {
   # the configuration of which specific package set `pkgs.cross` refers to happens elsewhere;
   # here we just define them all.
   nixpkgs.overlays = [
-    (next: prev: {
+    (next: prev: rec {
       # non-emulated packages build *from* local *for* target.
       # for large packages like the linux kernel which are expensive to build under emulation,
       # the config can explicitly pull such packages from `pkgs.cross` to do more efficient cross-compilation.
-      crossFrom."x86_64-linux" = mkCrossFrom "x86_64-linux" next;
-      crossFrom."aarch64-linux" = mkCrossFrom "aarch64-linux" next;
+      crossFrom."x86_64-linux" = mkCrossFrom "x86_64-linux" prev;
+      crossFrom."aarch64-linux" = mkCrossFrom "aarch64-linux" prev;
+
+      emulated = mkEmulated prev;
+    })
+    (next: prev: {
+      # packages which don't cross compile
+      inherit (prev.emulated)
+        duplicity  # python3.10-s3transfer
+        fuzzel
+        fwupd-efi
+        fwupd
+        # gnustep-base  # (used by unar)
+        gocryptfs  # gocryptfs-2.3-go-modules
+        # grpc
+        hdf5
+        http2
+        kitty
+        iio-sensor-proxy
+        libHX
+        pam_mount
+        pipewire
+        ncftp
+        rmlint
+        sequoia
+        # splatmoji
+        twitter-color-emoji  # python3.10-defcon
+        unar  # python3.10-psycopg2
+        visidata  # python3.10-psycopg2
+        xdg-utils  # perl5.36.0-File-BaseDir
+      ;
+      # pythonPackagesExtensions = prev.pythonPackagesExtensions ++ [
+      #   (py-next: py-prev: {
+      #     defcon = py-prev.defcon.override { inherit prev.emulated.stdenv; };
+      #     # psycopg2 = py-prev.psycopg2.override { inherit prev.emulated.stdenv; };
+      #   })
+      # ];
     })
   ];
 }