diff --git a/make/cleandirs.mk b/make/cleandirs.mk
index 34a7e867..cef72b5f 100644
--- a/make/cleandirs.mk
+++ b/make/cleandirs.mk
@@ -8,8 +8,14 @@ distclean: do.distclean
 include $(MODDIR)/make/defs.mk
 
 SUBDIRS ?= $(FIND_SUBDIRS)
-SUBDIRS_ALL ?=
-SUBDIRS_INSTALL ?=
+
+ifeq ($(FORCE_REBUILD_SUBDIRS),true)
+  SUBDIRS_ALL = $(SUBDIRS)
+  SUBDIRS_INSTALL = $(SUBDIRS)
+else
+  SUBDIRS_ALL ?=
+  SUBDIRS_INSTALL ?=
+endif
 
 do.all:
 	set -e; for d in $(SUBDIRS_ALL); do make -wC $$d $*; done