-# directory in parallel. This is necessary in case someone tries to
-# build multiple targets on one command line.
+# directory in parallel, in case someone tries to build multiple
+# targets, and one of them can cause a recursive target to be invoked.
+
+# Only set this if Automake doesn't provide it.
+AM_RECURSIVE_TARGETS ?= $(RECURSIVE_TARGETS:-recursive=) \
+ $(RECURSIVE_CLEAN_TARGETS:-recursive=) \
+ dist distcheck tags ctags
+
+ALL_RECURSIVE_TARGETS += $(AM_RECURSIVE_TARGETS)
+
+ifneq ($(word 2, $(MAKECMDGOALS)), )
+ifneq ($(filter $(ALL_RECURSIVE_TARGETS), $(MAKECMDGOALS)), )