diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index f9950df449b..5cd20b1db6b 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -710,12 +710,6 @@ emulator: maketree $(BUILD) $(EMULATOR)
 
 buildtools: maketree $(BUILD)
 
-# In order to keep dependencies reasonable, we exclude objects in the base of
-# $(SRC)/emu, as well as all the OSD objects and anything in the $(OBJ) tree
-depend: maketree $(MAKEDEP_TARGET)
-	@echo Rebuilding depend_$(TARGET).mak...
-	$(MAKEDEP) -I. $(INCPATH) -X$(SRC)/emu -X$(SRC)/osd/... -X$(OBJ)/... src/$(TARGET) > depend_$(TARGET).mak
-
 tools: maketree $(TOOLS)
 
 maketree: $(sort $(OBJDIRS))
diff --git a/src/mame/mame.mak b/src/mame/mame.mak
index 759b8e9308d..abe07121f2c 100644
--- a/src/mame/mame.mak
+++ b/src/mame/mame.mak
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@
 #
 ###########################################################################
 
+ifeq ($(TARGET),mame)
+# In order to keep dependencies reasonable, we exclude objects in the base of
+# $(SRC)/emu, as well as all the OSD objects and anything in the $(OBJ) tree
+depend: maketree $(MAKEDEP_TARGET)
+	@echo Rebuilding depend_$(TARGET).mak...
+	$(MAKEDEP) -I. $(INCPATH) -X$(SRC)/emu -X$(SRC)/osd/... -X$(OBJ)/... src/$(TARGET) > depend_$(TARGET).mak
+endif
 
 MAMESRC = $(SRC)/mame
 MAMEOBJ = $(OBJ)/mame
diff --git a/src/mess/mess.mak b/src/mess/mess.mak
index 6283d87dad4..65e04bb3c30 100644
--- a/src/mess/mess.mak
+++ b/src/mess/mess.mak
@@ -6,6 +6,13 @@
 #
 ###########################################################################
 
+ifeq ($(TARGET),mess)
+# In order to keep dependencies reasonable, we exclude objects in the base of
+# $(SRC)/emu, as well as all the OSD objects and anything in the $(OBJ) tree
+depend: maketree $(MAKEDEP_TARGET)
+	@echo Rebuilding depend_$(TARGET).mak...
+	$(MAKEDEP) -I. $(INCPATH) -X$(SRC)/emu -X$(SRC)/osd/... -X$(OBJ)/... src/$(TARGET) > depend_$(TARGET).mak
+endif
 
 # include MESS core defines
 include $(SRC)/mess/messcore.mak
diff --git a/src/ume/ume.mak b/src/ume/ume.mak
index b6a5bcff463..1e7dd9b3507 100644
--- a/src/ume/ume.mak
+++ b/src/ume/ume.mak
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ $(DRIVLISTSRC): $(SRC)/mame/mame.lst $(SRC)/mess/mess.lst
 include $(SRC)/mame/mame.mak
 include $(SRC)/mess/mess.mak
 
-depend_ume: maketree $(MAKEDEP_TARGET)
+depend: maketree $(MAKEDEP_TARGET)
 	@echo Rebuilding depend_$(TARGET).mak...
 	$(MAKEDEP) -I. $(INCPATH) -X$(SRC)/emu -X$(SRC)/osd/... -X$(OBJ)/... src/mame > depend_mame.mak
 	$(MAKEDEP) -I. $(INCPATH) -X$(SRC)/emu -X$(SRC)/osd/... -X$(OBJ)/... src/mess > depend_mess.mak