diff --git a/tool/depot/mk/front_end.inc b/tool/depot/mk/front_end.inc
index d64c127af..13196d15c 100644
--- a/tool/depot/mk/front_end.inc
+++ b/tool/depot/mk/front_end.inc
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ REPOSITORIES ?= $(shell find $(GENODE_DIR)/repos -follow -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1
 # list of all repositories that contain depot recipes
 REP_RECIPES_DIRS := $(wildcard $(addsuffix /recipes,$(REPOSITORIES)))
 
-DEPOT_DIR := $(GENODE_DIR)/depot
+DEPOT_DIR ?= $(GENODE_DIR)/depot
 
 usage:
 	@$(ECHO) "$(subst $(NEWLINE),\n,$(HELP_MESSAGE))";
diff --git a/tool/depot/publish b/tool/depot/publish
index d507e2b00..5a928fe90 100755
--- a/tool/depot/publish
+++ b/tool/depot/publish
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ include $(GENODE_DIR)/tool/depot/mk/front_end.inc
 #
 
 ifneq ($(MAKECMDGOALS),)
-DEPENDENCIES_CMD    := $(GENODE_DIR)/tool/depot/dependencies $(MAKECMDGOALS)
+DEPENDENCIES_CMD    := $(GENODE_DIR)/tool/depot/dependencies DEPOT_DIR="$(DEPOT_DIR)" $(MAKECMDGOALS)
 DEPENDENCIES_RESULT := $(shell $(DEPENDENCIES_CMD) 2> /dev/null || true)
 endif