diff --git a/make/projects-dir.mk b/make/projects-dir.mk
index 249808a1..a58c5e6f 100644
--- a/make/projects-dir.mk
+++ b/make/projects-dir.mk
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ pkg-%: $(filter-out $(UNAVAILABLE_TARGETS),pull.done)
 # --- generic cleanup targets
 
 clean-dirs:
-	if [ -n "$(wildcard */*.done)" ]; then ls */*.done 2>/dev/null | sed 's%/.*%%' | xargs -r $(PROJECTS_PY_BUILD) --exclude "" clean; fi
+	echo $(sort $(dir $(wildcard */*.done))) | xargs -r $(PROJECTS_PY_BUILD) clean
 
 clean-all-dirs:
 	$(PROJECTS_PY_BUILD) clean $(PROJECTS)