diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/ports.go b/internal/bootstrap/ports.go
index 4da7560..f7a77c3 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/ports.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/ports.go
@@ -385,6 +385,12 @@ func NamesFree(ctx context.Context, run Runner, names []string, known store.Stat
 		if known.Recorded(string(declaration.TypeContainer), name) {
 			continue
 		}
+		if name == giteaBootstrap && len(known.Resources) > 0 {
+			// Genesis raises the package registry itself, by hand and before the host records
+			// anything of it, so on a re-run it is found under its own name with no label and no
+			// record. A machine that carries what an earlier genesis raised made it.
+			continue
+		}
 		taken = append(taken, name)
 	}
 	if len(taken) > 0 {
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go
index 49a3e64..a94371a 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go
@@ -284,3 +284,16 @@ func TestAGenesisOnTheDefaultsSetsNoSettings(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("a converged genesis on the default ports set settings: %v", c.told)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestARerunOfGenesisFindsItsOwnPackageRegistry(t *testing.T) {
+	// Raised by genesis itself with no label and no record, so a re-run finds it unlabelled.
+	m := machineRunner{unlabelled: map[string]bool{giteaBootstrap: true}}
+	rerun := store.State{Resources: []store.Applied{{ID: "store", Type: "container", Target: "mesh-store"}}}
+	if err := NamesFree(context.Background(), m.run, []string{giteaBootstrap, "mesh-store"}, rerun); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("a re-run refused the package registry genesis raised: %v", err)
+	}
+	// On a machine genesis never ran on, a container under that name is a predecessor's.
+	if err := NamesFree(context.Background(), m.run, []string{giteaBootstrap}, store.State{}); err == nil {
+		t.Error("a container under the package registry's name on a fresh machine was not refused")
+	}
+}