diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 386f1a0aa34..851b94f7ded 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ build:
 	$(EVAL) "(package-build-all)"
 
 html: index
-index:
+index: archive.json
 	@echo " • Building html index ..."
 	$(MAKE) -C $(HTMLDIR)
 
diff --git a/html/index.erb b/html/index.erb
index dc6e8496255..31143233382 100644
--- a/html/index.erb
+++ b/html/index.erb
@@ -11,43 +11,22 @@
 **Last Update:** *<%= Time.now.strftime("%Y.%m.%d %H:%M %z") %>*
 
 <%
-  def parse str
-    # credit to: http://stackoverflow.com/q/3128406/154508
-    tokens = str.scan(/#{Regexp.escape("(")}|#{Regexp.escape(")")}|"(?:\\.|[^"])+"|[a-zA-Z0-9\'\-\_\+]+/)
-
-    stack = [[]]
-
-    tokens.each do |tok|
-      case tok
-      when "("
-        stack << []
-      when ")"
-        stack[-2] << stack.pop
-      when /^"(.*)\"$/
-        stack[-1] << $1
-      else
-        stack[-1] << tok
-      end
-    end
-
-    return stack[-1][-1]
-  end
-
+  require 'json'
+  archive_json = JSON.parse(File.open("../archive.json").read)
 
   headers = ["Package", "Version", "Description", "Source"]
-  data = parse(File.open("../packages/archive-contents").read)[1..-1]
 
-  data.map! do |row|
-    pkgname = row[0]
-    pkgurl = "packages/#{row[0]}-#{row[1]}." + (row[-1] == "single" ? "el" : "tar")
+  data = archive_json.keys.sort.map do |pkgname|
+    versions, deps, descr, pkgtype = archive_json[pkgname]
+    version = versions.max.to_s
+    pkgurl = "packages/#{pkgname}-#{version}." + (pkgtype == "single" ? "el" : "tar")
     recipe_url = "https://github.com/milkypostman/melpa/blob/master/recipes/#{pkgname}"
-    descr, source = row[3..-2].join(" "), "other"
+    source = 'unknown'
     if descr =~ /(.*?)(\s*-\*-.*?)?\s*\[source:\s*(\w+)\]\s*/
       descr, source = $1, $3
     end
-    ["[#{pkgname}](#{pkgurl})", row[1][0], descr, "[#{source}](#{recipe_url})"]
+    ["[#{pkgname}](#{pkgurl})", version, descr, "[#{source}](#{recipe_url})"]
   end
-  data.sort!
 
   colwidth = [0,0,0, 9]
 
diff --git a/json-fix.el b/json-fix.el
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e56f6b333cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/json-fix.el
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+;;; Fixes for json.el such that integer plist / alist keys are rendered as strings, in order to comply with the json spec
+
+(require 'json)
+
+(defun json-encode-key-value-pair (pair)
+  "Encode a (key . value) PAIR as JSON, ensuring that key is encoded into a string."
+  (let ((encoded-key (json-encode (car pair))))
+    (format "%s:%s"
+            (if (string-match "^\"" encoded-key)
+                encoded-key
+              (json-encode-string encoded-key))
+            (json-encode (cdr pair)))))
+
+(defun json-encode-hash-table (hash-table)
+  "Return a JSON representation of HASH-TABLE."
+  (json-encode-alist (maphash 'cons hash-table)))
+
+;; List encoding (including alists and plists)
+
+(defun json-encode-alist (alist)
+  "Return a JSON representation of ALIST."
+  (format "{%s}"
+          (json-join (mapcar 'json-encode-key-value-pair
+                             alist) ", ")))
+
+(defun json-encode-plist (plist)
+  "Return a JSON representation of PLIST."
+  (json-encode-alist
+   (loop while plist
+         collect (cons (car plist) (cadr plist))
+         do (setf plist (cddr plist)))))
+
+
+(provide 'json-fix)
+;;; json-fix.el ends here
diff --git a/package-build.el b/package-build.el
index 2a58cb17701..35a0f58dc08 100644
--- a/package-build.el
+++ b/package-build.el
@@ -650,16 +650,17 @@ FILES is a list of (SOURCE . DEST) relative filepath pairs."
 
 ;; Utility functions
 (autoload 'json-encode "json")
+(eval-after-load 'json '(load (expand-file-name "json-fix")))
 
 (defun package-build-alist-as-json (fn)
   (interactive)
   (with-temp-file fn
-    (insert  (json-encode package-build-alist))))
+    (insert (json-encode package-build-alist))))
 
 (defun package-build-archive-alist-as-json (fn)
   (interactive)
   (with-temp-file fn
-    (insert  (json-encode  package-build-archive-alist))))
+    (insert (json-encode package-build-archive-alist))))
 
 
 (provide 'package-build)