diff --git a/make/defs.mk b/make/defs.mk
index 64abc403..fada83bd 100644
--- a/make/defs.mk
+++ b/make/defs.mk
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ Q                           ?= @
 
 include $(JWBDIR)/make/projects.mk
 
+ifndef WHICH
+  WHICH                     := $(firstword $(wildcard /usr/bin/which) $(shell which which))
+endif
 ifndef GREP
   GREP                      := $(shell $(WHICH) grep)
 endif
diff --git a/make/platform.mk b/make/platform.mk
index 2d79e0c0..ebcf643d 100644
--- a/make/platform.mk
+++ b/make/platform.mk
@@ -18,6 +18,26 @@ $(eval $(call try_include,$(JWBDIR)/make/pre-local.mk))
 $(eval $(call try_include,$(TOPDIR)/make/pre-local.mk))
 $(eval $(call try_include,pre-local.mk))
 
+
+# -- What do I know about myself?
+VERSION_FILE                ?= $(firstword $(wildcard VERSION) $(TOPDIR)/VERSION)
+ifndef DEVELOPMENT
+  ifeq ($(wildcard $(VERSION_FILE)),)
+    DEVELOPMENT             := true
+  else
+    DEVELOPMENT             := $(shell grep -q 'dev' $(VERSION_FILE) && echo true)
+  endif
+endif
+
+# -- Conclude the build system's location:
+ifeq ($(PROJECTS_DIR),)
+  ifeq ($(DEVELOPMENT),true)
+    PROJECTS_DIR            ?= $(TOPDIR)/..
+  else
+    PROJECTS_DIR            ?= /opt
+  endif
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(MAKE_BENCHMARK),true)
   export SHELL              := /bin/bash $(JWB_SCRIPT_DIR)/timed-make-shell.sh
 else
@@ -25,6 +45,11 @@ else
 endif
 
 JWB_SCRIPT_DIR              := $(firstword $(wildcard $(JWBDIR)/scripts $(JWBDIR)/bin))
+
+include $(JWBDIR)/make/py-version.mk
+
+JW_PKG_PY                    = $(PYTHON) $(JWB_SCRIPT_DIR)/jw-pkg.py -p $(PROJECTS_DIR) -t $(TOPDIR) --topdir-format absolute $(JW_PKG_PY_EXTRA_OPTS)
+
 ifndef GET_OS_SH
   GET_OS_SH                 := $(SHELL) $(JWB_SCRIPT_DIR)/get-os.sh
 endif
diff --git a/make/projects.mk b/make/projects.mk
index 80670ead..e9c34af4 100644
--- a/make/projects.mk
+++ b/make/projects.mk
@@ -2,36 +2,9 @@
 
 include $(JWBDIR)/make/platform.mk
 
-# -- What do I know about myself?
-VERSION_FILE                ?= $(firstword $(wildcard VERSION) $(TOPDIR)/VERSION)
-ifndef DEVELOPMENT
-  ifeq ($(wildcard $(VERSION_FILE)),)
-    DEVELOPMENT             := true
-  else
-    DEVELOPMENT             := $(shell grep -q 'dev' $(VERSION_FILE) && echo true)
-  endif
-endif
-
-# -- Conclude the build system's location:
-ifeq ($(PROJECTS_DIR),)
-  ifeq ($(DEVELOPMENT),true)
-    PROJECTS_DIR            ?= $(TOPDIR)/..
-  else
-    PROJECTS_DIR            ?= /opt
-  endif
-endif
-
 # -- Query the build system about other projects:
 
-ifndef WHICH
-  WHICH                     := $(firstword $(wildcard /usr/bin/which) $(shell which which))
-endif
-
-include $(JWBDIR)/make/py-version.mk
-
-
 ifneq ($(TOPDIR),)
-  JW_PKG_PY                  = PYTHONPATH=$(JWBDIR)/src/python $(PYTHON) $(JWB_SCRIPT_DIR)/jw-pkg.py -p $(PROJECTS_DIR) -t $(TOPDIR) --topdir-format absolute $(JW_PKG_PY_EXTRA_OPTS)
   proj_query_cmd             = $(JW_PKG_PY) projects
   proj_query                 = $(shell $(proj_query_cmd) $(1))
   proj_dir                   = $(call proj_query,proj-dir $(1))