diff --git a/configure/RULES_TOP b/configure/RULES_TOP
index 94632a895..0bc0126b9 100644
--- a/configure/RULES_TOP
+++ b/configure/RULES_TOP
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 include $(CONFIG)/RULES_DIRS
 
-uninstall$(DIVIDER)%:
+uninstall$(DIVIDER)%: uninstallDirs
 	@$(RMDIR) $(INSTALL_LOCATION_BIN)/$* $(INSTALL_LOCATION_LIB)/$* 
 
 cleandirs:
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ endif
 distclean: clean uninstall
 
 uninstall: $(addprefix uninstall$(DIVIDER),$(BUILD_ARCHS))
+
+uninstallDirs:
 	@$(RMDIR)  rec.bak rec
 	@$(RMDIR) $(INSTALL_DBD) $(INSTALL_INCLUDE) $(INSTALL_DOC)\
 		$(INSTALL_HTML) $(INSTALL_JAVA) $(INSTALL_TEMPLATES)
@@ -75,5 +77,5 @@ help:
 	@echo "Indiv. object targets are supported by O.<arch> level Makefile .e.g"
 	@echo "     xxxRecord.o"
 
-.PHONY : uninstall tar help cleandirs distclean
+.PHONY : uninstall tar help cleandirs distclean uninstallDirs