diff --git a/manager/manager_cmds/external.py b/manager/manager_cmds/external.py
index fbf86e19..10051953 100644
--- a/manager/manager_cmds/external.py
+++ b/manager/manager_cmds/external.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def create_external_detected_spec(env, spec):
         return spack.detection.DetectedPackage(Spec(pruned_spec), prefix)
 
 
-def assemble_dict_of_detected_externals(env, black_list, white_list):
+def assemble_dict_of_detected_externals(env, exclude, include):
     external_spec_dict = {}
     active_env = ev.active_environment()
 
@@ -70,11 +70,11 @@ def update_dictionary(env, spec):
     for spec in env.all_specs():
         if spec.external:
             continue
-        if black_list:
-            if spec.name not in black_list:
+        if exclude:
+            if spec.name not in exclude:
                 update_dictionary(env, spec)
-        elif white_list:
-            if spec.name in white_list:
+        elif include:
+            if spec.name in include:
                 update_dictionary(env, spec)
         else:
             if not active_env.is_develop(spec):
diff --git a/manager/manager_utils.py b/manager/manager_utils.py
index a4f6531a..8f4cd270 100644
--- a/manager/manager_utils.py
+++ b/manager/manager_utils.py
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@ def repl(match):
 
 def pruned_spec_string(spec, variants_to_omit=["dev_path=", "patches=", "build_system="]):
     full_spec = spec.format("{name}{@version}{%compiler}{variants}{arch=architecture}")
-    spec_components = full_spec.split(" ")
+
+    # add spaces between variants so we can filter
+    spec_components = full_spec.replace("+", " +").replace("~", " ~").split(" ")
 
     def filter_func(entry):
         for v in variants_to_omit:
diff --git a/tests/test_external.py b/tests/test_external.py
index 36202d45..eeec8222 100644
--- a/tests/test_external.py
+++ b/tests/test_external.py
@@ -174,12 +174,12 @@ def impl_mock(*args):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skip()
-def test_firstTimeAddingExternal(tmpdir):
+def test_firstTimeAddingExternal(tmpdir, monkeypatch, arg_capture_patch, on_moonlight):
     with tmpdir.as_cwd():
         yaml_file = """spack:
   view: true
   specs: [mpileaks]"""
-        evaluate_external(tmpdir, yaml_file)
+        evaluate_external(tmpdir, yaml_file, monkeypatch, arg_capture_patch, on_moonlight)
         assert os.path.isfile("test/externals.yaml")
         with open("test/externals.yaml", "r") as f:
             yaml = syaml.load(f)
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ def test_firstTimeAddingExternal(tmpdir):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skip()
-def test_addToExistingExternal(tmpdir):
+def test_addToExistingExternal(tmpdir, monkeypatch, arg_capture_patch, on_moonlight):
     with tmpdir.as_cwd():
         yaml_file = """spack:
   view: true
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ def test_addToExistingExternal(tmpdir):
             f.write("packages:\n")
             f.write(str(ExtPackage("openmpi", "openmpi@4.0.3", "/path/to/other/view")))
 
-        evaluate_external(tmpdir, yaml_file)
+        evaluate_external(tmpdir, yaml_file, monkeypatch, arg_capture_patch, on_moonlight)
 
         with open("test/externals.yaml", "r") as f:
             yaml = syaml.load(f)