diff --git a/make/projects-dir.mk b/make/projects-dir.mk
index aa594436..2b4515df 100644
--- a/make/projects-dir.mk
+++ b/make/projects-dir.mk
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 SHELL                        = /bin/bash -o pipefail +H
 PROJECTS_TXT                ?= projects.txt
 JW_BUILD_VERBOSE            ?= false
-BASE_PKGS                    = git cvs make sudo time time xdg-utils
+BASE_PKGS                    = git cvs make sudo time time xdg-utils python3
 PREREQ_RELEASE              ?= pull
 
 # ------------ evaluate Makefile and environment variables