diff --git a/sys-libs/pkgcraft/pkgcraft-9999.ebuild b/sys-libs/pkgcraft/pkgcraft-9999.ebuild
index 4ffc093050e70..1f0b661923580 100644
--- a/sys-libs/pkgcraft/pkgcraft-9999.ebuild
+++ b/sys-libs/pkgcraft/pkgcraft-9999.ebuild
@@ -3,41 +3,48 @@
 
 EAPI=8
 
-CRATES=" "
+RUST_MIN_VER="1.90.0"
 
-RUST_MIN_VER="1.85.0"
-
-inherit edo cargo flag-o-matic multiprocessing toolchain-funcs
+inherit cargo edo
 
 DESCRIPTION="C library for pkgcraft"
 HOMEPAGE="https://pkgcraft.github.io/"
 
+MY_PN=${PN}-c
+MY_P=${MY_PN}-${PV}
+
 if [[ ${PV} == 9999 ]] ; then
+	SCALLOP_VERSION="9999"
 	EGIT_REPO_URI="https://github.com/pkgcraft/pkgcraft"
 	inherit git-r3
-
-	S="${WORKDIR}"/${P}/crates/pkgcraft-c
-
-	BDEPEND="test? ( dev-util/cargo-nextest )"
+	S="${WORKDIR}"/${P}/crates/${MY_PN}
 else
-	MY_P=${PN}-c-${PV}
+	# For releases, SCALLOP_VERSION must match the value of PACKAGE_VERSION in
+	# the vendored library's configure script.
+	#
+	# To get the value from the repo use the following command:
+	# sed -rn "/^PACKAGE_VERSION=/ s/^.*='(.*)'/\1/p" **/scallop/bash/configure
+	SCALLOP_VERSION="5.3.9.20251212"
 	SRC_URI="https://github.com/pkgcraft/pkgcraft/releases/download/${MY_P}/${MY_P}.tar.xz"
 	S="${WORKDIR}"/${MY_P}
-
-	KEYWORDS="~amd64 ~arm64"
+	KEYWORDS="~amd64"
 fi
 
 LICENSE="MIT"
-# Dependent crate licenses
+# dependent crate licenses
 LICENSE+=" Apache-2.0 BSD ISC MIT MPL-2.0 Unicode-DFS-2016"
 SLOT="0/${PV}"
-IUSE="test"
-RESTRICT="!test? ( test )"
 
-# clang needed for bindgen
-BDEPEND+="
+# Strict dependency versioning is required since the system library must match
+# the vendored copy as scallop exports many parts of bash that aren't meant to
+# be a public interface and compatibility is not guaranteed between releases.
+RDEPEND="~sys-libs/scallop-${SCALLOP_VERSION}"
+DEPEND="${RDEPEND}"
+# clang needed by bindgen to generate bash bindings
+BDEPEND="
 	dev-util/cargo-c
 	llvm-core/clang
+	virtual/pkgconfig
 "
 
 QA_FLAGS_IGNORED="usr/lib.*/libpkgcraft.so.*"
@@ -52,6 +59,9 @@ src_unpack() {
 }
 
 src_compile() {
+	# use system scallop library
+	export SCALLOP_NO_VENDOR=1
+
 	local cargoargs=(
 		--library-type=cdylib
 		--prefix=/usr
@@ -59,33 +69,9 @@ src_compile() {
 		$(usev !debug '--release')
 	)
 
-	# For scallop building bash
-	tc-export AR CC
-
-	# scallop uses modified bash-5.2 which relies on unprotoyped functions
-	append-cflags -std=gnu17
-
-	# Can pass -vv if need more output from e.g. scallop configure
 	edo cargo cbuild "${cargoargs[@]}"
 }
 
-src_test() {
-	if [[ ${PV} == 9999 ]] ; then
-		# It's interesting to test the whole thing rather than just
-		# pkgcraft-c.
-		cd "${WORKDIR}"/${P} || die
-
-		local -x NEXTEST_TEST_THREADS="$(makeopts_jobs)"
-
-		# Need nextest per README (separate processes required)
-		# Invocation from https://github.com/pkgcraft/pkgcraft/blob/main/.github/workflows/ci.yml#L56
-		edo cargo nextest run $(usev !debug '--release') --color always --all-features --tests
-	else
-		# There are no tests for pkgcraft-c. Test via e.g. dev-python/pkgcraft.
-		:;
-	fi
-}
-
 src_install() {
 	local cargoargs=(
 		--library-type=cdylib