diff --git a/plugins/host_agent/agent.py b/plugins/host_agent/agent.py
index ed6a9e4..bbb6c5b 100644
--- a/plugins/host_agent/agent.py
+++ b/plugins/host_agent/agent.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from collections import deque
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, wait as wait_futures
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 
-AGENT_VERSION = "1.26.0"
+AGENT_VERSION = "1.26.1"
 
 # Default path to the local Docker Engine socket. Overridable via the
 # `docker_socket` config key; collection is silently skipped if it's absent or
diff --git a/plugins/host_agent/files/maint.py b/plugins/host_agent/files/maint.py
index a1d8e37..d0b45cf 100644
--- a/plugins/host_agent/files/maint.py
+++ b/plugins/host_agent/files/maint.py
@@ -101,10 +101,10 @@ def valid(req) -> bool:
 
 
 def run(cmd: list, deadline: int = COMMAND_DEADLINE_SECONDS, env: dict | None = None,
-        ok_codes: tuple = (0,), keep: int = OUTPUT_KEPT_CHARS):
+        ok_codes: tuple = (0,), keep: int | None = OUTPUT_KEPT_CHARS):
     """(ok, output tail) of a command, bounded by `deadline`. `ok_codes` are
     the exit codes that mean it worked (zypper says more than 0); `keep` is
-    how much of the output's end is kept."""
+    how much of the output's end is kept, None for all of it."""
     try:
         done = subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=deadline,
                               env=dict(os.environ, LANG="C", LC_ALL="C", **(env or {})))
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ def run(cmd: list, deadline: int = COMMAND_DEADLINE_SECONDS, env: dict | None =
     except OSError as exc:
         return False, str(exc)
     out = (done.stdout or "") + (done.stderr or "")
-    return done.returncode in ok_codes, out[-keep:]
+    return done.returncode in ok_codes, out if keep is None else out[-keep:]
 
 
 REBOOT_MARKER = "/var/run/reboot-required"                 # Debian and Ubuntu
@@ -226,9 +226,11 @@ def do_update() -> dict:
                                        "(apt, dnf, yum, zypper, pacman) on this host"}
     out = ""
     for label, cmd, deadline, env, ok_codes in update_steps(manager):
-        ok, out = run(cmd, deadline=deadline, env=env, ok_codes=ok_codes)
+        # The whole output: every manager prints its count before the long
+        # log of what it then does, so a tail loses it on a large update.
+        ok, out = run(cmd, deadline=deadline, env=env, ok_codes=ok_codes, keep=None)
         if not ok:
-            return {"ok": False, "detail": f"{label} failed: " + out}
+            return {"ok": False, "detail": f"{label} failed: " + out[-OUTPUT_KEPT_CHARS:]}
     changed = upgraded_count(out)
     if manager == "apt":
         run(["apt-get", "-y", "autoremove"], env={"DEBIAN_FRONTEND": "noninteractive"})
diff --git a/tests/plugins/host_agent/test_maint_helper.py b/tests/plugins/host_agent/test_maint_helper.py
index 453e839..dbc6724 100644
--- a/tests/plugins/host_agent/test_maint_helper.py
+++ b/tests/plugins/host_agent/test_maint_helper.py
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ def test_a_zypper_update_that_asks_for_a_reboot_still_worked(maint, monkeypatch)
     monkeypatch.setattr(maint, "_os_release_id", lambda path="/etc/os-release": "sles")
     ran = []
 
-    def fake_run(cmd, deadline=0, env=None, ok_codes=(0,)):
+    def fake_run(cmd, deadline=0, env=None, ok_codes=(0,), keep=0):
         ran.append(cmd[2])
         code = 102 if cmd[2] == "update" else 0
         return code in ok_codes, "3 packages to upgrade.\n"
@@ -282,6 +282,20 @@ def test_a_zypper_update_that_asks_for_a_reboot_still_worked(maint, monkeypatch)
     assert ran == ["refresh", "update"]
 
 
+def test_a_large_update_still_counts_its_packages(maint, monkeypatch):
+    """apt prints its count before the log of unpacking and setting up each
+    package, which runs far past what a detail keeps."""
+    _manager(monkeypatch, maint, ("apt-get",))
+    log = "17 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.\n" + \
+        "Setting up libfoo (1.2-3) ...\n" * 200
+    monkeypatch.setattr(maint, "run", lambda cmd, **kw: (True, log if kw.get("keep", 0) is None
+                                                         else log[-maint.OUTPUT_KEPT_CHARS:]))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(maint, "reboot_required", lambda: False)
+    got = maint.do_update()
+    assert got["ok"] and got["packages"] == 17
+    assert len(got["detail"]) <= 500
+
+
 def test_a_failed_step_says_which(maint, monkeypatch):
     _manager(monkeypatch, maint, ("pacman",))
     monkeypatch.setattr(maint, "run", lambda cmd, **kw: (False, "error: failed to synchronize all databases"))