diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index 1f6978ac1f..0b1e357ce9 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -454,7 +454,11 @@ sub gitweb_get_feature {
 		$feature{$name}{'sub'},
 		$feature{$name}{'override'},
 		@{$feature{$name}{'default'}});
-	if (!$override) { return @defaults; }
+	# project specific override is possible only if we have project
+	our $git_dir; # global variable, declared later
+	if (!$override || !defined $git_dir) {
+		return @defaults;
+	}
 	if (!defined $sub) {
 		warn "feature $name is not overridable";
 		return @defaults;
@@ -2202,6 +2206,9 @@ sub config_to_multi {
 sub git_get_project_config {
 	my ($key, $type) = @_;
 
+	# do we have project
+	return unless (defined $project && defined $git_dir);
+
 	# key sanity check
 	return unless ($key);
 	$key =~ s/^gitweb\.//;
diff --git a/t/t9500-gitweb-standalone-no-errors.sh b/t/t9500-gitweb-standalone-no-errors.sh
index 2fc7fdb124..63b6b060e6 100755
--- a/t/t9500-gitweb-standalone-no-errors.sh
+++ b/t/t9500-gitweb-standalone-no-errors.sh
@@ -591,13 +591,21 @@ test_debug 'cat gitweb.log'
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 # gitweb config and repo config
 
-cat >>gitweb_config.perl <<EOF
-
-\$feature{'blame'}{'override'} = 1;
-\$feature{'snapshot'}{'override'} = 1;
-\$feature{'avatar'}{'override'} = 1;
+cat >>gitweb_config.perl <<\EOF
+
+# turn on override for each overridable feature
+foreach my $key (keys %feature) {
+	if ($feature{$key}{'sub'}) {
+		$feature{$key}{'override'} = 1;
+	}
+}
 EOF
 
+test_expect_success \
+	'config override: projects list (implicit)' \
+	'gitweb_run'
+test_debug 'cat gitweb.log'
+
 test_expect_success \
 	'config override: tree view, features not overridden in repo config' \
 	'gitweb_run "p=.git;a=tree"'