diff --git a/bootloader.h b/bootloader.h
index 712aa1a..c2895dd 100644
--- a/bootloader.h
+++ b/bootloader.h
@@ -38,11 +38,24 @@
  * The recovery field is only written by linux and used
  * for the system to send a message to recovery or the
  * other way around.
+ *
+ * The stage field is written by packages which restart themselves
+ * multiple times, so that the UI can reflect which invocation of the
+ * package it is.  If the value is of the format "#/#" (eg, "1/3"),
+ * the UI will add a simple indicator of that status.
  */
 struct bootloader_message {
     char command[32];
     char status[32];
-    char recovery[1024];
+    char recovery[768];
+
+    // The 'recovery' field used to be 1024 bytes.  It has only ever
+    // been used to store the recovery command line, so 768 bytes
+    // should be plenty.  We carve off the last 256 bytes to store the
+    // stage string (for multistage packages) and possible future
+    // expansion.
+    char stage[32];
+    char reserved[224];
 };
 
 /* Read and write the bootloader command from the "misc" partition.