diff --git a/docs/libcurl/opts/Makefile.am b/docs/libcurl/opts/Makefile.am
index 21193e0d47..250937fd16 100644
--- a/docs/libcurl/opts/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/libcurl/opts/Makefile.am
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ pdf: $(PDFPAGES)
 	echo "converted $< to $@")
 
 mancheck:
-	@cd $(top_srcdir)/docs/libcurl/opts && ls `awk -F, '!/OBSOLETE/ && /^  CINIT/ { a=substr($$1, 9); print "CURLOPT_" a ".3"}' $(top_srcdir)/include/curl/curl.h`
+	@(cd $(top_srcdir)/docs/libcurl/opts && ls `awk -F, '!/OBSOLETE/ && /^  CINIT/ { a=substr($$1, 9); print "CURLOPT_" a ".3"}' $(top_srcdir)/include/curl/curl.h`)
 	rm -f in_temp
 	@(for a in $(man_MANS); do echo $$a >>in_temp; done)
 	sort in_temp > in_makefile
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index 0d9f6f5812..55d551f1a6 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -117,10 +117,10 @@ event-test: perlcheck all
 	echo "converted $< to $@")
 
 checksrc:
-	cd libtest && $(MAKE) checksrc
-	cd unit && $(MAKE) checksrc
-	cd server && $(MAKE) checksrc
-	cd http && $(MAKE) checksrc
+	(cd libtest && $(MAKE) checksrc)
+	(cd unit && $(MAKE) checksrc)
+	(cd server && $(MAKE) checksrc)
+	(cd http && $(MAKE) checksrc)
 
 if CURLDEBUG
 # for debug builds, we scan the sources on all regular make invokes