diff --git a/osc/commandline.py b/osc/commandline.py
index 63804c5a..f33644bb 100755
--- a/osc/commandline.py
+++ b/osc/commandline.py
@@ -665,6 +665,12 @@ class Osc(cmdln.Cmdln):
             checkout_package(conf.config['apiurl'], project, package, rev)
 
         elif project:
+            if not os.path.exists(project):
+                init_project_dir(conf.config['apiurl'], project, project)
+                print statfrmt('A', project)
+            else:
+                print >>sys.stderr, 'osc: project \'%s\' already exists' % project
+                sys.exit(1)
             # all packages
             for package in meta_get_packagelist(conf.config['apiurl'], project):
                 checkout_package(conf.config['apiurl'], project, package)
diff --git a/osc/core.py b/osc/core.py
index 3bd76b7b..4985e985 100755
--- a/osc/core.py
+++ b/osc/core.py
@@ -829,6 +829,13 @@ def urlopen(url, data=None):
 
     return fd
 
+def init_project_dir(apiurl, dir, project):
+    if not os.path.exists(dir):
+        os.mkdir(dir)
+        os.mkdir(os.path.join(dir, store))
+
+    store_write_project(dir, project)
+    store_write_apiurl(dir, apiurl)
 
 def init_package_dir(apiurl, project, package, dir, revision=None):
     if not os.path.isdir(store):
@@ -1437,11 +1444,7 @@ def make_dir(apiurl, project, package):
     #print "creating directory '%s'" % project
     if not os.path.exists(project):
         print statfrmt('A', project)
-        os.mkdir(project)
-        os.mkdir(os.path.join(project, store))
-
-        store_write_project(project, project)
-        store_write_apiurl(project, apiurl)
+        init_project_dir(apiurl, project, project)
 
     #print "creating directory '%s/%s'" % (project, package)
     if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(project, package)):