diff --git a/hack/update-generated-protobuf-dockerized.sh b/hack/update-generated-protobuf-dockerized.sh
index bd184fe1e7..5104967d99 100755
--- a/hack/update-generated-protobuf-dockerized.sh
+++ b/hack/update-generated-protobuf-dockerized.sh
@@ -41,57 +41,8 @@ fi
 
 gotoprotobuf=$(kube::util::find-binary "go-to-protobuf")
 
-PACKAGES=(
-  k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/apis/example/v1
-  k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/kube-aggregator/pkg/apis/apiregistration/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/kube-aggregator/pkg/apis/apiregistration/v1
-  k8s.io/api/core/v1
-  k8s.io/api/policy/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/extensions/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/autoscaling/v1
-  k8s.io/api/authorization/v1
-  k8s.io/api/autoscaling/v2beta1
-  k8s.io/api/autoscaling/v2beta2
-  k8s.io/api/authorization/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/batch/v1
-  k8s.io/api/batch/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/batch/v2alpha1
-  k8s.io/api/apps/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/apps/v1beta2
-  k8s.io/api/apps/v1
-  k8s.io/api/authentication/v1
-  k8s.io/api/authentication/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/events/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/rbac/v1alpha1
-  k8s.io/api/rbac/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/rbac/v1
-  k8s.io/api/certificates/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/coordination/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/coordination/v1
-  k8s.io/api/imagepolicy/v1alpha1
-  k8s.io/api/scheduling/v1alpha1
-  k8s.io/api/scheduling/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/scheduling/v1
-  k8s.io/api/settings/v1alpha1
-  k8s.io/api/storage/v1alpha1
-  k8s.io/api/storage/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/storage/v1
-  k8s.io/api/admissionregistration/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/admission/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/auditregistration/v1alpha1
-  k8s.io/api/networking/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/api/networking/v1
-  k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/metrics/v1alpha1
-  k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/metrics/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/custom_metrics/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/custom_metrics/v1beta2
-  k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/external_metrics/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/apis/audit/v1alpha1
-  k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/apis/audit/v1beta1
-  k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/apis/audit/v1
-  k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/apis/example2/v1
-)
+APIROOTS=( ${1} )
+shift
 
 # requires the 'proto' tag to build (will remove when ready)
 # searches for the protoc-gen-gogo extension in the output directory
@@ -101,6 +52,6 @@ PATH="${KUBE_ROOT}/_output/bin:${PATH}" \
   "${gotoprotobuf}" \
   --proto-import="${KUBE_ROOT}/vendor" \
   --proto-import="${KUBE_ROOT}/third_party/protobuf" \
-  --packages=$(IFS=, ; echo "${PACKAGES[*]}") \
+  --packages=$(IFS=, ; echo "${APIROOTS[*]}") \
   --go-header-file ${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/boilerplate/boilerplate.generatego.txt \
   "$@"
diff --git a/hack/update-generated-protobuf.sh b/hack/update-generated-protobuf.sh
index 2077320cc7..1a04aa1d52 100755
--- a/hack/update-generated-protobuf.sh
+++ b/hack/update-generated-protobuf.sh
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@ KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/..
 # source tree.  This is managed in kube::build::copy_output in build/common.sh.
 # If the output set is changed update that function.
 
-"${KUBE_ROOT}/build/run.sh" hack/update-generated-protobuf-dockerized.sh "$@"
+APIROOTS=${APIROOTS:-$(git grep --files-with-matches -e '// +k8s:protobuf-gen=package' cmd pkg staging | \
+	xargs -n 1 dirname | \
+	sed 's,^,k8s.io/kubernetes/,;s,k8s.io/kubernetes/staging/src/,,' | \
+	sort | uniq
+)}
+
+"${KUBE_ROOT}/build/run.sh" hack/update-generated-protobuf-dockerized.sh "${APIROOTS}" "$@"
 
 # ex: ts=2 sw=2 et filetype=sh
diff --git a/hack/verify-generated-protobuf.sh b/hack/verify-generated-protobuf.sh
index ac4b23bd62..5637afe045 100755
--- a/hack/verify-generated-protobuf.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-generated-protobuf.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 
 kube::golang::setup_env
 
-APIROOTS=${APIROOTS:-pkg/api pkg/apis pkg/watch staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg staging/src/k8s.io/api staging/src/k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis}
+APIROOTS=$(git grep --files-with-matches -e '// +k8s:protobuf-gen=package' cmd pkg staging | xargs -n 1 dirname | sort | uniq)
+
 _tmp="${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp"
 
 cleanup() {