diff --git a/make/projects-dir.mk b/make/projects-dir.mk
index 6c6c883c..291c35f7 100644
--- a/make/projects-dir.mk
+++ b/make/projects-dir.mk
@@ -144,10 +144,9 @@ JANWARE_PACKAGE_FILTER       = url =~ janware
 # ------------ projects to be built
 
 TARGET_PROJECTS              = $(filter-out $(EXCLUDE_FROM_BUILD),$(PROJECTS))
-BUILD_PROJECTS               = $(shell $(JW_PKG_PY_BUILD) --build-order all $(TARGET_PROJECTS))
-DEP_PROJECTS                 = $(shell $(JW_PKG_PY_PROJECTS) pkg-requires --syntax names-only --no-subpackages --delimiter ' ' --subsections jw run,build,devel,release $(TARGET_PROJECTS))
-GIT_PROJECTS                 = $(patsubst %/,%,$(dir $(wildcard $(addsuffix /.git,$(BUILD_PROJECTS)))))
-PROJECTS_WITH_PROJECT_CONF   = $(patsubst %/make/project.conf,%,$(wildcard $(addsuffix /make/project.conf,$(BUILD_PROJECTS))))
+DEP_PROJECTS                 = $(shell $(JW_PKG_PY_PROJECTS) pkg-requires --recursive --syntax names-only --no-subpackages --delimiter ' ' --subsections jw run,build,devel,release $(TARGET_PROJECTS))
+GIT_PROJECTS                 = $(patsubst %/,%,$(dir $(wildcard $(addsuffix /.git,$(DEP_PROJECTS)))))
+PROJECTS_WITH_PROJECT_CONF   = $(patsubst %/make/project.conf,%,$(wildcard $(addsuffix /make/project.conf,$(DEP_PROJECTS))))
 
 # ------------ targets
 
@@ -210,7 +209,7 @@ distclean: clean.text-files-cache
 clean.text-files-cache:
 	rm -f $(TEXT_FILES_CACHE)
 list-files:
-	$(Q)for p in $(BUILD_PROJECTS); do \
+	$(Q)for p in $(DEP_PROJECTS); do \
 		$(LIST_VCS_FILES_SH) -znf $$p | sed -z "s/^/$$p\//" | \
 			xargs -0 realpath -q ;\
 	done
@@ -230,10 +229,10 @@ cloc:
 	for p in $(GIT_PROJECTS); do \
 		git -C $$p submodule status | sed "s|^ *\([^ ]\+\) \+\([^ ]\+\)  *.*|$$p/\2|" ;\
 	done > cloc-ignore.txt
-	for p in $(foreach s,dist include bin lib,$(addsuffix /$s,$(BUILD_PROJECTS))); do \
+	for p in $(foreach s,dist include bin lib,$(addsuffix /$s,$(DEP_PROJECTS))); do \
 		echo $$p >> cloc-ignore.txt ;\
 	done
-	cloc --exclude-list-file=cloc-ignore.txt $(BUILD_PROJECTS)
+	cloc --exclude-list-file=cloc-ignore.txt $(DEP_PROJECTS)
 
 # --- package-related targets