diff --git a/vars/getFunctionalTestStage.groovy b/vars/getFunctionalTestStage.groovy
index c69185e32..5f9308cda 100644
--- a/vars/getFunctionalTestStage.groovy
+++ b/vars/getFunctionalTestStage.groovy
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import org.jenkinsci.plugins.pipeline.modeldefinition.Utils
  *                      rpmDistValue(distro)
  *      base_branch     if specified, checkout sources from this branch before running tests
  *      other_packages  space-separated string of additional RPM packages to install
+ *      runStage        whether or not to run the stage; overrides skipFunctionalTestStage()
  *      run_if_pr       whether or not the stage should run for PR builds
  *      run_if_landing  whether or not the stage should run for landing builds
  *      job_status      Map of status for each stage in the job/build
@@ -47,6 +48,14 @@ Map call(Map kwargs = [:]) {
     String other_packages = kwargs.get('other_packages', '')
     Boolean run_if_pr = kwargs.get('run_if_pr', false)
     Boolean run_if_landing = kwargs.get('run_if_landing', false)
+
+    // Temporarily use a String to allow determing if the value was unset, but when used pass the
+    // value in as a Boolean. This allows stages that have not yet been converted to use runStage
+    // to be skipped by the existing skipFunctionalTestStage logic, while new stages can use
+    // runStage directly. Once all stages have been converted to use runStage, this should be
+    // changed to a Boolean.
+    String runStage = kwargs.get('runStage', 'undefined').toString()
+
     Map job_status = kwargs.get('job_status', [:])
 
     return {
@@ -57,57 +66,69 @@ Map call(Map kwargs = [:]) {
             String tags = getFunctionalTags(
                 pragma_suffix: pragma_suffix, stage_tags: stage_tags, default_tags: default_tags)
 
-            Map skip_kwargs = [
+            if (runStage == 'false') {
+                println("[${name}] Stage skipped by runStage=false")
+                Utils.markStageSkippedForConditional("${name}")
+                return
+            } else if (runStage == 'undefined') {
+                // To be removed once all stages have been converted to use runStage.
+                Map skip_kwargs = [
                 'tags': tags,
                 'pragma_suffix': pragma_suffix,
                 'distro': distro,
                 'run_if_pr': run_if_pr,
                 'run_if_landing': run_if_landing]
-            if (skipFunctionalTestStage(skip_kwargs)) {
-                println("[${name}] Stage skipped by skipFunctionalTestStage()")
+                if (skipFunctionalTestStage(skip_kwargs)) {
+                    println("[${name}] Stage skipped by skipFunctionalTestStage()")
+                    Utils.markStageSkippedForConditional("${name}")
+                    return
+                }
+            } else if (!testsInStage(tags)) {
+                println("[${name}] Stage skipped by no tests matching the '${tags}' tags")
                 Utils.markStageSkippedForConditional("${name}")
-            } else {
-                node(cachedCommitPragma("Test-label${pragma_suffix}", label)) {
-                    // Ensure access to any branch provisioning scripts exist
-                    println("[${name}] Check out '${base_branch}' from version control")
-                    if (base_branch) {
-                        checkoutScm(
-                            url: 'https://github.com/daos-stack/daos.git',
-                            branch: base_branch,
-                            withSubmodules: false,
-                            pruneStaleBranch: true)
-                    } else {
-                        checkoutScm(pruneStaleBranch: true)
-                    }
+                return
+            }
+
+            node(cachedCommitPragma("Test-label${pragma_suffix}", label)) {
+                // Ensure access to any branch provisioning scripts exist
+                println("[${name}] Check out '${base_branch}' from version control")
+                if (base_branch) {
+                    checkoutScm(
+                        url: 'https://github.com/daos-stack/daos.git',
+                        branch: base_branch,
+                        withSubmodules: false,
+                        pruneStaleBranch: true)
+                } else {
+                    checkoutScm(pruneStaleBranch: true)
+                }
 
-                    try {
-                        println("[${name}] Running functionalTest() on ${label} with tags=${tags}")
-                        jobStatusUpdate(
-                            job_status,
-                            name,
-                            functionalTest(
-                                image_version: image_version,
-                                inst_repos: daosRepos(distro),
-                                inst_rpms: functionalPackages(
-                                    clientVersion: 1,
-                                    nextVersion: next_version,
-                                    addDaosPkgs: 'tests-internal',
-                                    rpmDistribution: rpm_distro) + ' ' + other_packages,
-                                test_tag: tags,
-                                ftest_arg: getFunctionalArgs(
-                                    pragma_suffix: pragma_suffix,
-                                    nvme: nvme,
-                                    default_nvme: default_nvme,
-                                    provider: provider)['ftest_arg'],
-                                test_function: 'runTestFunctionalV2'))
-                    } finally {
-                        println("[${name}] Running functionalTestPostV2()")
-                        functionalTestPostV2()
-                        jobStatusUpdate(job_status, name)
-                    }
+                try {
+                    println("[${name}] Running functionalTest() on ${label} with tags=${tags}")
+                    jobStatusUpdate(
+                        job_status,
+                        name,
+                        functionalTest(
+                            image_version: image_version,
+                            inst_repos: daosRepos(distro),
+                            inst_rpms: functionalPackages(
+                                clientVersion: 1,
+                                nextVersion: next_version,
+                                addDaosPkgs: 'tests-internal',
+                                rpmDistribution: rpm_distro) + ' ' + other_packages,
+                            test_tag: tags,
+                            ftest_arg: getFunctionalArgs(
+                                pragma_suffix: pragma_suffix,
+                                nvme: nvme,
+                                default_nvme: default_nvme,
+                                provider: provider)['ftest_arg'],
+                            test_function: 'runTestFunctionalV2'))
+                } finally {
+                    println("[${name}] Running functionalTestPostV2()")
+                    functionalTestPostV2()
+                    jobStatusUpdate(job_status, name)
                 }
             }
-            println("[${name}] Finished with ${job_status}")
         }
+        println("[${name}] Finished with ${job_status}")
     }
 }
diff --git a/vars/unitPackages.groovy b/vars/unitPackages.groovy
index 2c59cfd11..1baa0b74c 100644
--- a/vars/unitPackages.groovy
+++ b/vars/unitPackages.groovy
@@ -26,16 +26,8 @@ String call(Map config = [:]) {
     Map stage_info = parseStageInfo(config)
     String target = stage_info['target']
 
-    boolean quick_build = quickBuild()
-
     if (target.startsWith('centos') || target.startsWith('el')) {
-        if (quick_build) {
-            // the script run below will read from this file
-            unstash target + '-required-mercury-rpm-version'
-        }
-
-        return sh(script: "${script} ${target} " +
-                          String.valueOf(quick_build),
+        return sh(script: "${script} ${target}",
                   returnStdout: true)
     }
     error 'unitPackages not implemented for ' + target