diff --git a/make/projects-dir.mk b/make/projects-dir.mk
index f2f143b0..069d6d7e 100644
--- a/make/projects-dir.mk
+++ b/make/projects-dir.mk
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ ifneq ($(PROJECTS),)
 endif
 
 ifneq ($(wildcard projects.txt),)
-  PROJECTS = $(shell cat projects.txt | sed '/^ *\#/ d')
+  PROJECTS ?= $(shell cat projects.txt | sed '/^ *\#/ d')
   # TODO: this could be nicer
   CVS_PROJECTS = $(PROJECTS)
 else
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ PURGE_SH       = /bin/bash $(firstword $(wildcard $(MOD_SCRIPT_DIR)/purge-stale-
 RELEASE_SH     = /bin/bash $(firstword $(wildcard $(MOD_SCRIPT_DIR)/build-release.sh /opt/jw-build/bin/build-release.sh) release-not-found)
 BROWSER       ?= firefox
 GIT_SRV_ADMIN  = ssh $(JANWARE_USER)@git.jannet.de /opt/jw-build/bin/git-srv-admin.sh 
+CVS_ADMIN      = ssh $(JANWARE_USER)@git.jannet.de /opt/jw-build/bin/cvs-admin.sh 
 
 # ------------ targets
   
@@ -186,7 +187,7 @@ cvsdir.done:
 	touch $@
 
 cvs-update.done: cvsdir.done
-	cvs update -dP $(CVS_PROJECTS)
+	cvs update -dP Makefile $(shell $(CVS_ADMIN) list-projects)
 	touch $@
 
 update.done: purge