diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4f7f506e..3b199451 100755
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,13 +3,42 @@
 #
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+MAINTAINER := $(shell whoami)
 UID := $(shell id -u)
 ifeq ($(UID),0)
 warn:
-	@echo "You are running as root. Don't do this, it's dangerous."
-	@echo "Refusing to build. Good bye."
+	@echo "You are running as root. Do not do this, it is dangerous."
+	@echo "Aborting the build. Log in as a regular user and retry."
 else
 
+# Delete default rules. We don't use them. This saves a bit of time.
+.SUFFIXES:
+
+# we want bash as shell
+SHELL := $(shell if [ -x "$$BASH" ]; then echo $$BASH; \
+	 else if [ -x /bin/bash ]; then echo /bin/bash; \
+	 else echo sh; fi; fi)
+
+# Include some helper macros and variables
+include support/misc/utils.mk
+
+# bash prints the name of the directory on 'cd <dir>' if CDPATH is
+# set, so unset it here to not cause problems. Notice that the export
+# line doesn't affect the environment of $(shell ..) calls.
+export CDPATH :=
+
+# Disable top-level parallel build if per-package directories is not
+# used. Indeed, per-package directories is necessary to guarantee
+# determinism and reproducibility with top-level parallel build.
+.NOTPARALLEL:
+
+# kconfig uses CONFIG_SHELL
+CONFIG_SHELL := $(SHELL)
+
+export SHELL CONFIG_SHELL
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 # first target is default ...
 default: all
 
@@ -81,7 +110,6 @@ Makefile.local:
 	@cp Makefile.example $@
 
 -include config.local
-include make/buildsystem-utils.mk
 include make/environment-box.mk
 include make/environment-linux.mk
 include make/environment-build.mk
diff --git a/make/buildsystem-helpers.mk b/make/buildsystem-helpers.mk
index cfaf4a47..0e19e6bf 100644
--- a/make/buildsystem-helpers.mk
+++ b/make/buildsystem-helpers.mk
@@ -34,10 +34,10 @@ define INSTALL_EXIST # (source, dest)
 	fi
 endef
 
-GET-GIT-ARCHIVE = $(HELPERS_DIR)/get-git-archive.sh
-GET-GIT-SOURCE  = $(HELPERS_DIR)/get-git-source.sh
-GET-SVN-SOURCE  = $(HELPERS_DIR)/get-svn-source.sh
-UPDATE-RC.D     = $(HELPERS_DIR)/update-rc.d -r $(TARGET_DIR)
+GET-GIT-ARCHIVE = support/scripts/get-git-archive.sh
+GET-GIT-SOURCE  = support/scripts/get-git-source.sh
+GET-SVN-SOURCE  = support/scripts/get-svn-source.sh
+UPDATE-RC.D     = support/scripts/update-rc.d -r $(TARGET_DIR)
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # execute local scripts
diff --git a/make/environment-build.mk b/make/environment-build.mk
index 39fbb780..2d1cb29c 100644
--- a/make/environment-build.mk
+++ b/make/environment-build.mk
@@ -6,8 +6,6 @@
 LD_LIBRARY_PATH =
 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
 
-SHELL := /bin/bash
-
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 ifndef MAKE
@@ -116,7 +114,6 @@ LOCAL_DIR     = $(BASE_DIR)/local
 STAGING_DIR   = $(BASE_DIR)/staging
 IMAGE_DIR     = $(STAGING_DIR)/images
 UPDATE_DIR    = $(STAGING_DIR)/updates
-HELPERS_DIR   = $(BASE_DIR)/helpers
 CROSS_BASE    = $(BASE_DIR)/cross
 CROSS_DIR    ?= $(CROSS_BASE)/$(TARGET_ARCH)-linux-$(KERNEL_VER)
 STATIC_BASE   = $(BASE_DIR)/static
diff --git a/make/target-scripts.mk b/make/target-scripts.mk
index 90e8cc6d..4b868db7 100644
--- a/make/target-scripts.mk
+++ b/make/target-scripts.mk
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ $(TARGET_sbindir)/service:
 	$(INSTALL_EXEC) -D $(TARGET_FILES)/scripts/service $(@)
 
 $(TARGET_sbindir)/update-rc.d:
-	$(INSTALL_EXEC) -D $(HELPERS_DIR)/update-rc.d $(@)
+	$(INSTALL_EXEC) -D support/scripts/update-rc.d $(@)
 
 $(TARGET_datadir)/udhcpc/default.script:
 	$(INSTALL_EXEC) -D $(TARGET_FILES)/scripts/udhcpc-default.script $(@)
diff --git a/make/buildsystem-utils.mk b/support/misc/utils.mk
similarity index 100%
rename from make/buildsystem-utils.mk
rename to support/misc/utils.mk
diff --git a/helpers/get-git-archive.sh b/support/scripts/get-git-archive.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from helpers/get-git-archive.sh
rename to support/scripts/get-git-archive.sh
diff --git a/helpers/get-git-source.sh b/support/scripts/get-git-source.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from helpers/get-git-source.sh
rename to support/scripts/get-git-source.sh
diff --git a/helpers/get-svn-source.sh b/support/scripts/get-svn-source.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from helpers/get-svn-source.sh
rename to support/scripts/get-svn-source.sh
diff --git a/helpers/update-rc.d b/support/scripts/update-rc.d
similarity index 100%
rename from helpers/update-rc.d
rename to support/scripts/update-rc.d