diff --git a/make/defs.mk b/make/defs.mk
index a4942339..55bb9494 100644
--- a/make/defs.mk
+++ b/make/defs.mk
@@ -5,15 +5,15 @@
 ifndef JW_BUILD_DEF_MK_INCLUDED
 JW_BUILD_DEF_MK_INCLUDED = true
 
-ifeq ($(MAKE_BENCHMARK),true)
-  SHELL                = /bin/bash $(MOD_SCRIPT_DIR)/timed-make-shell.sh
-endif
-
 MAKEFLAGS             += -r
 
 include $(MODDIR)/make/platform.mk
 include $(MODDIR)/make/projects.mk
 
+ifeq ($(MAKE_BENCHMARK),true)
+  SHELL                = /bin/bash $(MOD_SCRIPT_DIR)/timed-make-shell.sh
+endif
+
 # ----- pre-local.mk
 
 ifneq ($(wildcard $(MODDIR)/make/pre-local.mk),)
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ PWD                   := $(shell which pwd)
 CWD                   := $(shell $(PWD))
 BIN_INSTALL           := /usr/bin/install
 SUDO                  ?= /usr/bin/sudo
-GET_OS_SH             ?= $(SHELL) $(MOD_SCRIPT_DIR)/get-os.sh
+GET_OS_SH             ?= /bin/bash $(MOD_SCRIPT_DIR)/get-os.sh
 
 # ----- standard variables
 ifneq ($(wildcard $(TOPDIR)/.git),)
@@ -383,6 +383,7 @@ endif
 
 # -- target files and dirs
 
+HDRDIR_SCOPE_SUFFIX   ?= $(PROJECT)
 SRC_SUFFIX            += $(sort $(suffix $(wildcard $(TOPDIR)/hdr/*)))
 LOCAL_SRC             += Makefile $(wildcard $(addprefix *,$(SRC_SUFFIX)))
 SRC_HEADERED          += $(shell if [ "$(LOCAL_SRC)" ]; then grep -ic "it services" $(LOCAL_SRC) | $(SED) '/:0$$/ d; s/:.*$$//'; fi)
@@ -1059,7 +1060,6 @@ endif
 
 INCLUDE                   += $(LOCAL_INCLUDE)
 
-HDRDIR_SCOPE_SUFFIX      ?= $(PROJECT)
 # force use of double quotes, allow header namespaces
 ifeq ($(HDRDIR_SCOPE_SUFFIX),)
   INCLUDE                 += -I.