diff --git a/scripts/projects.py b/scripts/projects.py
index 6830884e..f4c743b1 100644
--- a/scripts/projects.py
+++ b/scripts/projects.py
@@ -16,8 +16,9 @@ def re_section(name):
                  re.DOTALL)
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------- helpers
 
-def warning(*objs):
-    print("WARNING: ", *objs, file=sys.stderr)
+def debug(*objs):
+    if args.debug:
+        print("DEBUG: ", *objs, file=sys.stderr)
 
 def proj_dir(name):
     return projs_root + '/' + name
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ def get_section(path, section):
     return r.rstrip()
  
 def read_value(path, section, key):
-    warning("opening ", path)
+    debug("opening ", path)
     try:
         file = open(path)
     except:
@@ -104,7 +105,7 @@ def add_modules_from_project_txt(buf, visited, spec, section, key, add_self, sco
     #    return
     visited.add(spec)
     deps = get_value(name, section, key)
-    warning("name = ", name, "section = ", section, "key = ", key, "deps = ", deps, "scope = ", scope, "visited = ", visited)
+    debug("name = ", name, "section = ", section, "key = ", key, "deps = ", deps, "scope = ", scope, "visited = ", visited)
     if deps and scope > 0:
         if scope == 1:
             subscope = 0
@@ -242,7 +243,6 @@ def cmd_proj_dir(args_):
 
 # -------------------------------------------------------------------- here we go
 
-warning("running ", ' '.join(sys.argv))
 global_args = []
 skip = 0
 for a in sys.argv[1::]:
@@ -256,13 +256,20 @@ for a in sys.argv[1::]:
     if a[0] != '-':
         break
 
+topdir = None
+top_name = None
+
 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Project metadata evaluation')
 parser.add_argument('cmd', default='', help='Command')
+parser.add_argument('--debug', '-d', nargs='?', const=True, default=False, help='Output debug information to stderr')
 parser.add_argument('--topdir', '-t', nargs='?', help='Project Path')
 parser.add_argument('--prefix', '-p', nargs='?', default = expanduser("~") +
     '/local/src/cvs.stable/proj', help='Projects Path Prefix')
 parser.add_argument('arg', nargs='*', help='Command arguments')
 args=parser.parse_args(global_args)
+
+debug("running ", ' '.join(sys.argv))
+
 projs_root = args.prefix
 if args.topdir:
     topdir = args.topdir