diff --git a/make/dirs.mk b/make/dirs.mk
index 51656c72..65506f13 100644
--- a/make/dirs.mk
+++ b/make/dirs.mk
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ distclean: dirs.clean dirs.distclean
 .PHONY: $(SUBDIRS_TO_ITERATE) all install clean distclean test
 
 %/dirs-all.done:
-	echo $@ needs to be rebuilt
+	@echo $@ needs to be rebuilt
 	exit 1
 
 dirs-%.done:
@@ -44,11 +44,11 @@ dirs-install.done: dirs-all.done
 endif
 
 dirs.clean:
-	$(make_dirs)
+	set -e; for d in $(SUBDIRS) ; do make -wC $$d clean; done
 	rm -rf $(TEXTCLEAN) $(CLEAN) dist *.done *~ .*.swp *.tmp core *.rep
 
 dirs.distclean:
-	$(make_dirs)
+	set -e; for d in $(SUBDIRS) ; do make -wC $$d distclean; done
 	rm -rf $(DISTCLEAN)
 
 .DEFAULT: