diff --git a/src/Makefile.global.in b/src/Makefile.global.in
index d39d6ca867..76ec919476 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.global.in
+++ b/src/Makefile.global.in
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 # src/Makefile.global.in
 # @configure_input@
 
+SILENT = @
+DOTSILENT = .SILENT
+
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # All PostgreSQL makefiles include this file and use the variables it sets,
 # which in turn are put here by the configure script. There is no need for
@@ -618,9 +621,10 @@ TAS         = @TAS@
 #
 # Global targets and rules
 
+
 %.c: %.l
 ifdef FLEX
-	$(FLEX) $(if $(FLEX_NO_BACKUP),-b) $(FLEXFLAGS) -o'$@' $<
+	$(SILENT) $(FLEX) $(if $(FLEX_NO_BACKUP),-b) $(FLEXFLAGS) -o'$@' $<
 	@$(if $(FLEX_NO_BACKUP),if [ `wc -l <lex.backup` -eq 1 ]; then rm lex.backup; else echo "Scanner requires backup; see lex.backup." 1>&2; exit 1; fi)
 else
 	@$(missing) flex $< '$@'
@@ -629,19 +633,20 @@ endif
 %.c: %.y
 	$(if $(BISON_CHECK_CMD),$(BISON_CHECK_CMD))
 ifdef BISON
-	$(BISON) $(BISONFLAGS) -o $@ $<
+	$(SILENT) $(BISON) $(BISONFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 else
 	@$(missing) bison $< $@
 endif
 
 %.i: %.c
-	$(CPP) $(CPPFLAGS) -o $@ $<
+	$(SILENT) $(CPP) $(CPPFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
 %.gz: %
-	$(GZIP) --best -c $< >$@
+	$(SILENT) $(GZIP) --best -c $< >$@
 
 %.bz2: %
-	$(BZIP2) -c $< >$@
+	$(SILENT) $(BZIP2) -c $< >$@
+
 
 # Direct builds of foo.c -> foo are disabled to avoid generating
 # *.dSYM junk on Macs.  All builds should normally go through the
@@ -785,10 +790,11 @@ ifeq ($(GCC), yes)
 # GCC allows us to create object and dependency file in one invocation.
 %.o : %.c
 	@if test ! -d $(DEPDIR); then mkdir -p $(DEPDIR); fi
-	$(COMPILE.c) -o $@ $< -MMD -MP -MF $(DEPDIR)/$(*F).Po
+	$(SILENT) $(COMPILE.c) -o $@ $< -MMD -MP -MF $(DEPDIR)/$(*F).Po
 
 endif # GCC
 
+
 # Include all the dependency files generated for the current
 # directory. Note that make would complain if include was called with
 # no arguments.
diff --git a/src/backend/Makefile b/src/backend/Makefile
index a1d3f067d7..8a8e439f6f 100644
--- a/src/backend/Makefile
+++ b/src/backend/Makefile
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ endif
 
 all: submake-libpgport submake-schemapg postgres $(POSTGRES_IMP)
 
+$(DOTSILENT): postgres
+
 ifneq ($(PORTNAME), cygwin)
 ifneq ($(PORTNAME), win32)
 ifneq ($(PORTNAME), aix)
diff --git a/src/backend/common.mk b/src/backend/common.mk
index 5d599dbd0c..66b5a0c573 100644
--- a/src/backend/common.mk
+++ b/src/backend/common.mk
@@ -26,9 +26,10 @@ endif
 SUBSYS.o: $(SUBDIROBJS) $(OBJS)
 	$(LD) $(LDREL) $(LDOUT) $@ $^
 
+
 objfiles.txt: Makefile $(SUBDIROBJS) $(OBJS)
 # Don't rebuild the list if only the OBJS have changed.
-	$(if $(filter-out $(OBJS),$?),( $(if $(SUBDIROBJS),cat $(SUBDIROBJS); )echo $(addprefix $(subdir)/,$(OBJS)) ) >$@,touch $@)
+	$(SILENT) $(if $(filter-out $(OBJS),$?),( $(if $(SUBDIROBJS),cat $(SUBDIROBJS); )echo $(addprefix $(subdir)/,$(OBJS)) ) >$@,touch $@)
 
 # make function to expand objfiles.txt contents
 expand_subsys = $(foreach file,$(1),$(if $(filter %/objfiles.txt,$(file)),$(patsubst ../../src/backend/%,%,$(addprefix $(top_builddir)/,$(shell cat $(file)))),$(file)))