diff --git a/bin/disk-image-create b/bin/disk-image-create
index 5f9e0b32f..d71fa2603 100755
--- a/bin/disk-image-create
+++ b/bin/disk-image-create
@@ -75,23 +75,14 @@ if [ "$CLEAR_ENV" = "1" -a "$HOME" != "" ]; then
   exec -c $0 "$@"
 fi
 
-for arg do IMAGE_ELEMENT="$IMAGE_ELEMENT $arg" ; done
-
-if [ "$SKIP_BASE" != "1" ]; then
-  IMAGE_ELEMENT="base $IMAGE_ELEMENT"
-fi
-
 source $_LIB/img-defaults
 source $_LIB/common-functions
 source $_LIB/img-functions
 
+arg_to_elements "$@"
+
 IMAGE_NAME=${IMAGE_NAME%%\.${IMAGE_TYPE}}
 
-IMAGE_ELEMENT=$($SCRIPT_HOME/element-info --expand-dependencies $IMAGE_ELEMENT)
-
-echo "Building elements: $IMAGE_ELEMENT"
-echo "If prompted for sudo, install sudoers.d/img-build-sudoers into /etc/sudoers.d and restart the build."
-
 mk_build_dir
 create_base
 run_d extra-data
diff --git a/bin/ramdisk-image-create b/bin/ramdisk-image-create
index a806b9042..65f590af6 100755
--- a/bin/ramdisk-image-create
+++ b/bin/ramdisk-image-create
@@ -53,15 +53,12 @@ while true ; do
         *) echo "Internal error!" ; exit 1 ;;
     esac
 done
-for arg do IMAGE_ELEMENT="$IMAGE_ELEMENT $arg" ; done
 
 source $_LIB/ramdisk-defaults
 source $_LIB/common-functions
 source $_LIB/ramdisk-functions
 
-IMAGE_ELEMENT=$($SCRIPT_HOME/element-info --expand-dependencies $IMAGE_ELEMENT)
-
-echo "Building element(s): ${IMAGE_ELEMENT}"
+arg_to_elements "$@"
 
 echo "Discovering binary dependencies"
 ensure_binaries
diff --git a/lib/common-functions b/lib/common-functions
index 7cf6df028..7d8fc6a5d 100644
--- a/lib/common-functions
+++ b/lib/common-functions
@@ -173,3 +173,17 @@ function detach_loopback() {
     echo Gave up trying to detach $loopdev
     return 1
 }
+
+function arg_to_elements() {
+  for arg do IMAGE_ELEMENT="$IMAGE_ELEMENT $arg" ; done
+
+  if [ "$SKIP_BASE" != "1" ]; then
+    IMAGE_ELEMENT="base $IMAGE_ELEMENT"
+  fi
+  echo "Building elements: $IMAGE_ELEMENT"
+  echo "If prompted for sudo, install sudoers.d/img-build-sudoers into /etc/sudoers.d and restart the build."
+
+  IMAGE_ELEMENT=$($SCRIPT_HOME/element-info --expand-dependencies $IMAGE_ELEMENT)
+
+  echo "Expanded element dependencies to: $IMAGE_ELEMENT"
+}