diff --git a/make/projects.mk b/make/projects.mk
index 6fd9b5c8..1ad3fd0e 100644
--- a/make/projects.mk
+++ b/make/projects.mk
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 # == Variables for inter-project-communication
 
 # -- What do I know about myself?
-VERSION_FILE          ?= $(firstword $(wildcard VERSION $(TOPDIR)/VERSION))
-DEVELOPMENT           ?= $(shell grep -q 'dev' $(VERSION_FILE) && echo true)
+VERSION_FILE          ?= $(firstword $(wildcard VERSION) $(TOPDIR)/VERSION)
+ifeq ($(wildcard $(VERSION_FILE)),)
+  DEVELOPMENT         ?= true
+else
+  DEVELOPMENT         ?= $(shell grep -q 'dev' $(VERSION_FILE) && echo true)
+endif
 
 # -- Conclude the build system's location:
 PROJECTS_DIR          ?= $(TOPDIR)/..
diff --git a/make/topdir.mk b/make/topdir.mk
index dec09a26..3cbf4af3 100644
--- a/make/topdir.mk
+++ b/make/topdir.mk
@@ -169,4 +169,4 @@ git-ssh-%:
 git-ssh: git-ssh-origin
 
 echo-hash:
-	@/bin/bash $(MOD_SCRIPT_DIR)/pkg.sh hash
+	@/bin/bash $(PKG_SH_EXE) hash