diff --git a/artemis-distribution/src/main/assembly/dep.xml b/artemis-distribution/src/main/assembly/dep.xml
index a39ae6c85ec..4adfaf85be0 100644
--- a/artemis-distribution/src/main/assembly/dep.xml
+++ b/artemis-distribution/src/main/assembly/dep.xml
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@
             <include>org.fusesource.hawtbuf:hawtbuf</include>
             <include>org.jgroups:jgroups</include>
             <include>io.netty:netty-codec-mqtt</include>
-            <include>org.apache.derby:derby</include>
          </includes>
          <!--excludes>
             <exclude>org.apache.activemq:artemis-website</exclude>
diff --git a/scripts/merge-PR.sh b/scripts/merge-PR.sh
index b12e02f2c58..c3e0214f101 100755
--- a/scripts/merge-PR.sh
+++ b/scripts/merge-PR.sh
@@ -29,13 +29,17 @@
 # Notice: you should add +refs/pull/*/head to your fetch config on upstream
 #        as specified on https://github.com/apache/activemq-artemis/blob/master/docs/hacking-guide/en/maintainers.md
 
-git fetch origin
-git fetch apache
-git fetch upstream 
+ARTEMIS_USER_REMOTE_NAME=${ARTEMIS_USER_REMOTE_NAME:origin}
+ARTEMIS_APACHE_REMOTE_NAME=${ARTEMIS_APACHE_REMOTE_NAME:apache}
+ARTEMIS_GITHUB_REMOTE_NAME=${ARTEMIS_GITHUB_REMOTE_NAME:upstream}
 
-git checkout apache/master -B master
-git checkout upstream/pr/$1 -B $1
-git pull --rebase apache master
+git fetch $ARTEMIS_USER_REMOTE_NAME
+git fetch $ARTEMIS_APACHE_REMOTE_NAME
+git fetch $ARTEMIS_GITHUB_REMOTE_NAME
+
+git checkout $ARTEMIS_APACHE_REMOTE_NAME/master -B master
+git checkout $ARTEMIS_GITHUB_REMOTE_NAME/pr/$1 -B $1
+git pull --rebase $ARTEMIS_APACHE_REMOTE_NAME master
 git checkout master
 git merge --no-ff $1 -m "This closes #$*"
 git branch -D $1