diff --git a/make/projects-dir.mk b/make/projects-dir.mk
index fc20abb0..4cb2dc97 100644
--- a/make/projects-dir.mk
+++ b/make/projects-dir.mk
@@ -23,8 +23,10 @@ ifneq ($(PROJECTS),)
   export PGIT_CLONE_PROJECTS = $(PROJECTS)
 endif
 
-ifneq ($(wildcard projects.txt),)
-  PROJECTS ?= $(shell cat projects.txt | sed '/^ *\#/ d')
+PROJECTS_TXT         ?= projects.txt
+
+ifneq ($(wildcard $(PROJECTS_TXT)),)
+  PROJECTS ?= $(shell cat $(PROJECTS_TXT) | sed '/^ *\#/ d')
   # TODO: this could be nicer
   CVS_PROJECTS = $(PROJECTS)
 else
@@ -182,8 +184,8 @@ pkg-release-all:
 	/bin/bash ./packager-client/scripts/packager-client-2.sh
 
 pkg-fetch-from-%:
-	ssh $* /opt/jw-base/bin/jw-pkg info -s > projects.txt.tmp
-	mv projects.txt.tmp projects.txt
+	ssh $* /opt/jw-base/bin/jw-pkg info -s > $(PROJECTS_TXT).tmp
+	mv $(PROJECTS_TXT).tmp $(PROJECTS_TXT)
 
 pkg-init-%:
 	$(CREATE_PROJECT_SH) $*
@@ -303,7 +305,7 @@ list-maintainers: $(SSH_WRAPPER_SH)
 git-update-project-descriptions: $(SSH_WRAPPER_SH)
 	$(GIT_SRV_ADMIN_SH) -j update-descriptions all
 
-projects.txt:
+$(PROJECTS_TXT):
 	echo $(PROJECTS) | sed 's/ /\n/g; s%/%%g' > $@
 
 edit-%: | $(TEXT_FILES_CACHE)