diff --git a/conda/conda-bootstrap.py b/conda/conda-bootstrap.py
index 47a0e77771862cca8e80c531beaca5227c2f0556..a97fc2956373ed9550255c716688dd7c92eec34b 100755
--- a/conda/conda-bootstrap.py
+++ b/conda/conda-bootstrap.py
@@ -52,20 +52,17 @@ def get_rendered_recipe(python, path):
   if path.endswith('meta.yaml'):
     path = os.path.dirname(path)
 
-  with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(dir=path, mode='wt', suffix='.yaml') as f:
+  with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(dir=path, suffix='.tmp') as d:
 
-    # writes a temporary recipe with an injected version of bob-devel
+    # writes a temporary recipe without bob-devel
     orig = os.path.join(path, 'meta.yaml')
     contents = open(orig).read()
-    import pdb; pdb.set_trace()
-    result = re.search(r'^requirements:.*run:\s*\n', contents, re.MULTILINE)
+    result = re.search(r'requirements:\s*\n\s*host:\s*\n', contents)
     contents = contents[:result.end()] + \
         '    - bob-devel {{ bob_devel }}.*\n' + \
         contents[result.end():]
-    f.write(contents)
-    f.flush()
-
-    cmd = [CONDA, 'render'] + get_buildopt(python) + [f.name]
+    with open(os.path.join(d, 'meta.yaml'), 'wt') as f: f.write(contents)
+    cmd = [CONDA, 'render'] + get_buildopt(python) + [d]
     print('$ ' + ' '.join(cmd))
     env = copy.copy(os.environ)
     env['CONDARC'] = get_condarc()
@@ -77,12 +74,17 @@ def parse_dependencies(python, path):
   recipe = get_rendered_recipe(python, path)
   return recipe['requirements'].get('host', []) + \
       recipe['requirements'].get('build', []) + \
-      recipe.get('test', {}).get('requires', [])
+      recipe['requirements'].get('run', []) + \
+      recipe.get('test', {}).get('requires', []) + \
+      ['bob.buildout'] #extra packages required for local dev
 
 
 def conda_install(subcmd, env, packages):
-  packages = [k.replace(' ', '=') for k in packages]
-  cmd = [CONDA, subcmd, '--yes', '--name', env] + packages
+  specs = []
+  for k in packages:
+    if any(elem in k for elem in '><|'): specs.append(k.replace(' ', ''))
+    else: specs.append(k.replace(' ', '='))
+  cmd = [CONDA, subcmd, '--yes', '--name', env] + specs
   print('$ ' + ' '.join(cmd))
   env = copy.copy(os.environ)
   env['CONDARC'] = get_condarc()
diff --git a/gitlab/conda_build_config.yaml b/gitlab/conda_build_config.yaml
index 8a568f8f20d853821b89cd1cd84a8ccae185018a..524f82d043cf0b68922feed8d892917b274500a5 100644
--- a/gitlab/conda_build_config.yaml
+++ b/gitlab/conda_build_config.yaml
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ pillow:
 scipy:
   - 0.19
 setuptools:
-  - 36.5.0
+  - 38.4.0
 six:
   - 1.11.0
 sphinx: