diff --git a/SConscript b/SConscript
index 915d3e3..58c47ac 100644
--- a/SConscript
+++ b/SConscript
@@ -509,12 +509,6 @@ if 'TOOLS' in config:
 env = Environment(tools = tools, variables = vars, ENV = os.environ)
 env['RECIPES_FOLDERS'] = [Dir('recipes')]
 env['SYSTEM_CACHE_DIR'] = os.path.join(_find_system_cache_dir(), 'spp_cache')
-env['UPDATE_REPOSITORIES'] = update_repositories
-env['CXX_STANDARD'] = config['CXX_STANDARD']  # make it available to everyone
-env['DEPS_CFLAGS'] = []
-env['DEPS_CXXFLAGS'] = []
-env['DEPS_LINKFLAGS'] = []
-
 print(f'Detected system cache directory: {env["SYSTEM_CACHE_DIR"]}')
 try:
     os.makedirs(env['SYSTEM_CACHE_DIR'], exist_ok=True)
@@ -524,7 +518,11 @@ except:
     os.makedirs(env['SYSTEM_CACHE_DIR'], exist_ok=True) # no more safeguards!
 env['CLONE_DIR'] = os.path.join(env['SYSTEM_CACHE_DIR'], 'cloned')
 env['DOWNLOAD_DIR'] = os.path.join(env['SYSTEM_CACHE_DIR'], 'downloaded')
-
+env['UPDATE_REPOSITORIES'] = update_repositories
+env['CXX_STANDARD'] = config['CXX_STANDARD']  # make it available to everyone
+env['DEPS_CFLAGS'] = []
+env['DEPS_CXXFLAGS'] = []
+env['DEPS_LINKFLAGS'] = []
 
 env['SHARED_CACHE_DIR'] = Dir(f'#cache').abspath
 # allow compiling to variant directories (each gets their own bin/lib/cache dirs)