diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
index aedfe99d1d..ddf3aa8fac 100644
--- a/Documentation/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all::
+
 # Import tree-wide shared Makefile behavior and libraries
 include ../shared.mak
 
@@ -238,7 +241,7 @@ DEFAULT_EDITOR_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(DEFAULT_EDITOR))
 ASCIIDOC_EXTRA += -a 'git-default-editor=$(DEFAULT_EDITOR_SQ)'
 endif
 
-all: html man
+all:: html man
 
 html: $(DOC_HTML)
 
diff --git a/contrib/credential/libsecret/Makefile b/contrib/credential/libsecret/Makefile
index 3e67552cc5..97ce9c92fb 100644
--- a/contrib/credential/libsecret/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/credential/libsecret/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all::
+
 MAIN:=git-credential-libsecret
 all:: $(MAIN)
 
diff --git a/contrib/credential/osxkeychain/Makefile b/contrib/credential/osxkeychain/Makefile
index 238f5f8c36..0948297e20 100644
--- a/contrib/credential/osxkeychain/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/credential/osxkeychain/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
 all:: git-credential-osxkeychain
 
 CC = gcc
diff --git a/contrib/credential/wincred/Makefile b/contrib/credential/wincred/Makefile
index 6e992c0866..5b795fc9fe 100644
--- a/contrib/credential/wincred/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/credential/wincred/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-all: git-credential-wincred.exe
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all:: git-credential-wincred.exe
 
 -include ../../../config.mak.autogen
 -include ../../../config.mak
diff --git a/contrib/diff-highlight/Makefile b/contrib/diff-highlight/Makefile
index f2be7cc924..33c2ccc9f7 100644
--- a/contrib/diff-highlight/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/diff-highlight/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-all: diff-highlight
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all:: diff-highlight
 
 PERL_PATH = /usr/bin/perl
 -include ../../config.mak
diff --git a/contrib/diff-highlight/t/Makefile b/contrib/diff-highlight/t/Makefile
index 5ff5275496..2a98541477 100644
--- a/contrib/diff-highlight/t/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/diff-highlight/t/Makefile
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all::
+
 -include ../../../config.mak.autogen
 -include ../../../config.mak
 
 # copied from ../../t/Makefile
 SHELL_PATH ?= $(SHELL)
 SHELL_PATH_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(SHELL_PATH))
 T = $(wildcard t[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]-*.sh)
 
-all: test
+all:: test
 test: $(T)
 
 .PHONY: help clean all test $(T)
diff --git a/contrib/mw-to-git/Makefile b/contrib/mw-to-git/Makefile
index 4e603512a3..497ac434d6 100644
--- a/contrib/mw-to-git/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/mw-to-git/Makefile
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
 #
 #   make install
 
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all::
+
 GIT_MEDIAWIKI_PM=Git/Mediawiki.pm
 SCRIPT_PERL=git-remote-mediawiki.perl
 SCRIPT_PERL+=git-mw.perl
@@ -27,7 +30,7 @@ INSTLIBDIR=$(shell $(MAKE) -C $(GIT_ROOT_DIR)/ \
 DESTDIR_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(DESTDIR))
 INSTLIBDIR_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(INSTLIBDIR))
 
-all: build
+all:: build
 
 test: all
 	$(MAKE) -C t
diff --git a/contrib/mw-to-git/t/Makefile b/contrib/mw-to-git/t/Makefile
index f422203fa0..6c9f377caa 100644
--- a/contrib/mw-to-git/t/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/mw-to-git/t/Makefile
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 #
 ## Test git-remote-mediawiki
 
-all: test
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all:: test
 
 -include ../../../config.mak.autogen
 -include ../../../config.mak
diff --git a/contrib/persistent-https/Makefile b/contrib/persistent-https/Makefile
index 52b84ba3d4..691737e76b 100644
--- a/contrib/persistent-https/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/persistent-https/Makefile
@@ -12,10 +12,13 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all::
+
 BUILD_LABEL=$(shell cut -d" " -f3 ../../GIT-VERSION-FILE)
 TAR_OUT=$(shell go env GOOS)_$(shell go env GOARCH).tar.gz
 
-all: git-remote-persistent-https git-remote-persistent-https--proxy \
+all:: git-remote-persistent-https git-remote-persistent-https--proxy \
 	git-remote-persistent-http
 
 git-remote-persistent-https--proxy: git-remote-persistent-https
diff --git a/contrib/subtree/t/Makefile b/contrib/subtree/t/Makefile
index 093399c788..2a85f5ee84 100644
--- a/contrib/subtree/t/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/subtree/t/Makefile
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2005 Junio C Hamano
 #
 
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all::
+
 -include ../../../config.mak.autogen
 -include ../../../config.mak
 
@@ -31,7 +34,7 @@ TSVN = $(sort $(wildcard t91[0-9][0-9]-*.sh))
 TGITWEB = $(sort $(wildcard t95[0-9][0-9]-*.sh))
 THELPERS = $(sort $(filter-out $(T),$(wildcard *.sh)))
 
-all: $(DEFAULT_TEST_TARGET)
+all:: $(DEFAULT_TEST_TARGET)
 
 test: pre-clean $(TEST_LINT)
 	$(MAKE) aggregate-results-and-cleanup
diff --git a/git-gui/Makefile b/git-gui/Makefile
index 667c39ed56..6c5a12bc32 100644
--- a/git-gui/Makefile
+++ b/git-gui/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
 all::
 
 # Define V=1 to have a more verbose compile.
diff --git a/git-gui/po/glossary/Makefile b/git-gui/po/glossary/Makefile
index 749aa2e7ec..e656b0d2b0 100644
--- a/git-gui/po/glossary/Makefile
+++ b/git-gui/po/glossary/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+update-po::
+
 PO_TEMPLATE = git-gui-glossary.pot
 
 ALL_POFILES = $(wildcard *.po)
diff --git a/t/interop/Makefile b/t/interop/Makefile
index 6911c2915a..4ff4ed0616 100644
--- a/t/interop/Makefile
+++ b/t/interop/Makefile
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all::
+
 # Import tree-wide shared Makefile behavior and libraries
 include ../../shared.mak
 
 -include ../../config.mak
 export GIT_TEST_OPTIONS
 
 SHELL_PATH ?= $(SHELL)
 SHELL_PATH_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(SHELL_PATH))
 T = $(sort $(wildcard i[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]-*.sh))
 
-all: $(T)
+all:: $(T)
 
 $(T):
 	@echo "*** $@ ***"; '$(SHELL_PATH_SQ)' $@ $(GIT_TEST_OPTS)
diff --git a/t/perf/Makefile b/t/perf/Makefile
index e4808aebed..9b3090c4ed 100644
--- a/t/perf/Makefile
+++ b/t/perf/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all::
+
 # Import tree-wide shared Makefile behavior and libraries
 include ../../shared.mak
 
 -include ../../config.mak
 export GIT_TEST_OPTIONS
 
-all: test-lint perf
+all:: test-lint perf
 
 perf: pre-clean
 	./run
diff --git a/templates/Makefile b/templates/Makefile
index bd1e9e30c1..722755338d 100644
--- a/templates/Makefile
+++ b/templates/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# The default target of this Makefile is...
+all::
+
 # Import tree-wide shared Makefile behavior and libraries
 include ../shared.mak
 
@@ -23,7 +26,7 @@ PERL_PATH_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(PERL_PATH))
 DESTDIR_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(DESTDIR))
 template_instdir_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(template_instdir))
 
-all: boilerplates.made custom
+all:: boilerplates.made custom
 
 # Put templates that can be copied straight from the source
 # in a file direc--tory--file in the source.  They will be
