diff --git a/deployment/appserver.py b/deployment/appserver.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/deployment/appserver.py
+++ b/deployment/appserver.py
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def briefkasten_ctl(action='restart'):
 
 
 @task
-def update_backend(index='dev', build=False, user=None, version=None):
+def update_backend(index='dev', build=True, user=None, version=None):
     """
     Install the backend from the given devpi index at the given version on the target host and restart the service.
build by default

afterall, the whole point of this task is to install the very latest
version