diff --git a/src/modules/dynamic_module_makefile.in b/src/modules/dynamic_module_makefile.in
index 4873268051c7960ce380bf12ab436ae218c7dde0..7d6380fba3ef1af5597dd46fbbd20521df2675ab 100644
--- a/src/modules/dynamic_module_makefile.in
+++ b/src/modules/dynamic_module_makefile.in
@@ -23,11 +23,12 @@ module.so: $(OBJS)
 
 clean:
 	-rm -f *.o *.a *.so module.so
-	for a in $(MODULE_SUBDIRS) ; do ( cd $$a ; $(MAKE) $(MAKE_FLAGS) clean ) ; done
+	if test "$(MODULE_SUBDIRS)" != "" ; then for a in $(MODULE_SUBDIRS) ; do echo cleaing $$a ; ( cd $$a ; $(MAKE) $(MAKE_FLAGS) clean ) ; done ; fi
+
 
 depend:
 	gcc -MM $(PREFLAGS) $(SRCDIR)/*.c | $(TMP_BINDIR)/fixdepends.sh $(SRCDIR)
-	for a in $(MODULE_SUBDIRS) ; do ( cd $$a ; $(MAKE) $(MAKE_FLAGS) depend ) ; done
+	if test "$(MODULE_SUBDIRS)" != "" ; then for a in $(MODULE_SUBDIRS) ; do echo making depend in $$a ; ( cd $$a ; $(MAKE) $(MAKE_FLAGS) clean ) ; done ; fi
 
 #verify / debug
 module_testsuite: $(SRCDIR)/testsuite.in
diff --git a/src/modules/static_module_makefile.in b/src/modules/static_module_makefile.in
index 7b6c5c46c5786fb7bc6bdbc2ad9d83eabf863dfa..5d496654c5cb3dddfd11b7ed90da07903931330b 100644
--- a/src/modules/static_module_makefile.in
+++ b/src/modules/static_module_makefile.in
@@ -27,11 +27,11 @@ module.a: $(OBJS)
 
 clean:
 	-rm -f *.o *.a *.so module.so module.pmod
-	for a in $(MODULE_SUBDIRS) ; do ( cd $$a ; $(MAKE) $(MAKE_FLAGS) clean ) ; done
+	if test "$(MODULE_SUBDIRS)" != "" ; then for a in $(MODULE_SUBDIRS) ; do echo cleaing $$a ; ( cd $$a ; $(MAKE) $(MAKE_FLAGS) clean ) ; done ; fi
 
 depend:
 	gcc -MM $(PREFLAGS) $(SRCDIR)/*.c | $(TMP_BINDIR)/fixdepends.sh $(SRCDIR)
-	for a in $(MODULE_SUBDIRS) ; do ( cd $$a ; $(MAKE) $(MAKE_FLAGS) depend ) ; done
+	if test "$(MODULE_SUBDIRS)" != "" ; then for a in $(MODULE_SUBDIRS) ; do echo making depend in $$a ; ( cd $$a ; $(MAKE) $(MAKE_FLAGS) clean ) ; done ; fi
 
 #verify / debug
 module_testsuite: $(SRCDIR)/testsuite.in