diff --git a/images/makeproject/Dockerfile b/images/makeproject/Dockerfile
index b80aad5..d3a34c7 100644
--- a/images/makeproject/Dockerfile
+++ b/images/makeproject/Dockerfile
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@ FROM base$TAG AS makeproject
 # everything which depends on build-args is done as ONBUILD in this stage, so
 # the user can customize it
 
-ONBUILD ARG TAG
+ARG TAG
+ENV TAG=$TAG
 ONBUILD ARG BOINC_USER
 ONBUILD ARG PROJECT_ROOT
 ONBUILD ENV BOINC_USER=$BOINC_USER \
diff --git a/images/makeproject/makeproject-step2.sh b/images/makeproject/makeproject-step2.sh
index 2319280..761cf3c 100755
--- a/images/makeproject/makeproject-step2.sh
+++ b/images/makeproject/makeproject-step2.sh
@@ -5,12 +5,14 @@ set -e
 source /run/secrets/secrets.env
 
 PROJECT_ROOT_DEST=$PROJECT_ROOT.dst
+cd $PROJECT_ROOT
 
 echo "Updating project files in data volume..."
-cd $PROJECT_ROOT
+
 # do variable substitution in files
 for file in config.xml html/user/schedulers.txt *.httpd.conf html/project/project.inc; do 
     sed -i -e "s|\${PROJECT}|$PROJECT|gI" \
+           -e "s|REPLACE WITH PROJECT NAME|$PROJECT|gI" \
            -e "s|\${PROJECT_ROOT}|$PROJECT_ROOT|gI" \
            -e "s|\${URL_BASE}|$URL_BASE|gI" \
            -e "s|\${DB_PASSWD}|$DB_PASSWD|gI" \
@@ -44,7 +46,7 @@ fi
 # if we can get in the root MySQL account without password, it means this is the
 # first run after project creation, in which case set the password, and create
 # the project database
-if mysql -u root -e ""; then
+if mysql -u root -e "" &> /dev/null ; then
     echo "Creating database..."
     mysqladmin -h mysql -u root password $DB_PASSWD
     PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/boinc/py python -c """if 1: