diff -r 5bb2235d843d -r e06852132c1d src/Pure/Tools/phabricator.scala
--- a/src/Pure/Tools/phabricator.scala	Thu Nov 07 11:40:17 2019 +0100
+++ b/src/Pure/Tools/phabricator.scala	Thu Nov 07 11:55:41 2019 +0100
@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@
 
     Linux.check_system_root()
 
+    progress.echo("System packages ...")
+
     if (package_update) {
       Linux.package_update(progress = progress)
       Linux.check_reboot_required()
@@ -143,7 +145,7 @@
 
     /* basic installation */
 
-    progress.echo("\nPhabricator installation...")
+    progress.echo("\nPhabricator installation ...")
 
     val root_path = if (root.nonEmpty) Path.explode(root) else default_root(name)
     val repo_path = if (repo.nonEmpty) Path.explode(repo) else default_repo(name)
@@ -193,7 +195,7 @@
 
     /* MySQL setup */
 
-    progress.echo("\nMySQL setup...")
+    progress.echo("\nMySQL setup ...")
 
     File.write(Path.explode("/etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/" + phabricator_name(ext = "cnf")),
 """[mysqld]
@@ -226,7 +228,7 @@
 
     /* SSH hosting */
 
-    progress.echo("\nSSH hosting setup...")
+    progress.echo("\nSSH hosting setup ...")
 
     val ssh_port = ssh_alternative2
 
@@ -260,7 +262,7 @@
 
     /* Apache setup */
 
-    progress.echo("\nApache setup...")
+    progress.echo("Apache setup ...")
 
     val apache_root = Path.explode("/etc/apache2")
     val apache_sites = apache_root + Path.explode("sites-available")
@@ -296,7 +298,7 @@
 
     /* PHP daemon */
 
-    progress.echo("\nPHP daemon setup...")
+    progress.echo("PHP daemon setup ...")
 
     config.execute("config set phd.user " + Bash.string(daemon_user))