diff --git a/configure/RULES.Db b/configure/RULES.Db
index 4732e623e..620677407 100644
--- a/configure/RULES.Db
+++ b/configure/RULES.Db
@@ -445,13 +445,12 @@ $(COMMON_DIR)/%.html: %.pm $(TOOLS)/podToHtml.pl
 $(COMMON_DIR)/%.html: ../%.pm $(TOOLS)/podToHtml.pl
 	@$(RM) $(notdir $@)
 	$(PERL) $(TOOLS)/podToHtml.pl -s -o $(notdir $@) $<
-	@$(MKDIR) -p $(dir $@)
+	@$(MKDIR) $(dir $@)
 	@$(MV) $(notdir $@) $@
 
 $(COMMON_DIR)/%.html: ../%.pl $(TOOLS)/podToHtml.pl
 	@$(RM) $(notdir $@)
 	$(PERL) $(TOOLS)/podToHtml.pl -s -o $(notdir $@) $<
-	@$(MKDIR) -p $(dir $@)
 	@$(MV) $(notdir $@) $@
 
 .PRECIOUS: $(COMMON_DIR)/%.html %.html
diff --git a/configure/RULES_BUILD b/configure/RULES_BUILD
index 3d3fc28c8..e7b8d8d27 100644
--- a/configure/RULES_BUILD
+++ b/configure/RULES_BUILD
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ ifdef RES
 endif
 
 $(DIRECTORY_TARGETS) :
-	$(MKDIR) -p $@
+	$(MKDIR) $@
 
 $(PRODNAME): $(INSTALL_LIB_INSTALLS)
 
diff --git a/configure/os/CONFIG.UnixCommon.Common b/configure/os/CONFIG.UnixCommon.Common
index 6f3e81bc1..4f02604ee 100644
--- a/configure/os/CONFIG.UnixCommon.Common
+++ b/configure/os/CONFIG.UnixCommon.Common
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 CP = cp
 MV = mv
 RM = rm -f
-MKDIR = mkdir
+MKDIR = mkdir -p
 RMDIR = rm -rf
 CAT = cat
 
diff --git a/src/libCom/env/RULES b/src/libCom/env/RULES
index f63475d25..88d29be17 100644
--- a/src/libCom/env/RULES
+++ b/src/libCom/env/RULES
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@
 
 envData.c: $(LIBCOM)/env/envDefs.h $(LIBCOM)/env/bldEnvData.pl \
 	$(CONFIG)/CONFIG_ENV $(CONFIG)/CONFIG_SITE_ENV
-	$(PERL) $(LIBCOM)/env/bldEnvData.pl $(INSTALL_QUIETLY) $(CONFIG)
+	$(PERL) $(LIBCOM)/env/bldEnvData.pl $(QUIET_FLAG) $(CONFIG)
diff --git a/src/libCom/misc/RULES b/src/libCom/misc/RULES
index ddcce46a2..2ba358675 100644
--- a/src/libCom/misc/RULES
+++ b/src/libCom/misc/RULES
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 # This is a Makefile fragment, see src/libCom/Makefile.
 
 MAKEVERSION = $(LIBCOM)/misc/makeEpicsVersion.pl
-MAKEVERSION_FLAGS = -o $(notdir $@) $(INSTALL_QUIETLY)
+MAKEVERSION_FLAGS = -o $(notdir $@) $(QUIET_FLAG)
 MAKEVERSION_FLAGS += $(if $(EPICS_SITE_VERSION),-v "$(EPICS_SITE_VERSION)")
 
 $(COMMON_DIR)/epicsVersion.h: $(CONFIG)/CONFIG_BASE_VERSION \
diff --git a/src/template/ext/top/configure/RULES_JAVA b/src/template/ext/top/configure/RULES_JAVA
index 1f06e6206..0285c7cd5 100644
--- a/src/template/ext/top/configure/RULES_JAVA
+++ b/src/template/ext/top/configure/RULES_JAVA
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ buildclean:
 
 ifdef JAVA_DIRECTORY_TARGETS
 $(JAVA_DIRECTORY_TARGETS):
-	$(MKDIR) -p $@
+	$(MKDIR) $@
 endif
 
 $(COMMON_JAVAINC):$(JAVAINC_CLASSFILES)