diff --git a/make/subdirs.mk b/make/subdirs.mk
index eb40f382..042cf2af 100644
--- a/make/subdirs.mk
+++ b/make/subdirs.mk
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-clean.var:
-	rm -rf $(CLEAN)
-distclean.var:
-	rm -rf $(DISTCLEAN)
+all: all.dirs
+install: install.dirs
+clean: clean.dirs clean.var
+distclean: distclean.dirs distclean.var
 
 ifdef SUBDIRS
 
@@ -14,11 +14,6 @@ clean.dirs:
 distclean.dirs:
 	set -e; for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do make -C $$dir distclean; done
 
-all: all.dirs
-install: install.dirs
-clean: clean.dirs clean.var
-distclean: distclean.dirs distclean.var
-
 else
 
 all.dirs:
@@ -27,3 +22,9 @@ clean.dirs:
 distclean.dirs:
 
 endif
+
+clean.var:
+	rm -rf $(CLEAN)
+distclean.var:
+	rm -rf $(DISTCLEAN)
+