diff --git a/make/defs.mk b/make/defs.mk
index 32edda7d..abb317fb 100644
--- a/make/defs.mk
+++ b/make/defs.mk
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@ ifneq ($(wildcard pre-local.mk),)
 include pre-local.mk
 endif
 
+# ----- executables
+SED                    = sed
+CAT                    = /bin/cat
+SHELL                  = /bin/bash
+
 # ----- standard variables
 PROJECT               ?= $(patsubst $(FLAVOUR_PREFIX)%,%,$(notdir $(shell cd $(TOPDIR); pwd | $(SED) 's/.*\///; s/-[0-9].*//')))
 ifeq ($(PROJECT),ytools)
@@ -50,11 +55,6 @@ ifeq ($(PKG_FORMAT),debian)
 export INCLUDE_REV_IN_VERSIONS = true
 endif
 
-# ----- executables
-SED                    = sed
-CAT                    = /bin/cat
-SHELL                  = /bin/bash
-
 CVS_PROJ_DIR          ?= $(TOPDIR)/..
 CVSTOPDIR             ?= $(CVS_PROJ_DIR)/..