diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e1c362f3665027e24473b62ae3ff4b5e8b7870e6..83a0ec609908325596ddf55245995dd00b4c9d16 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ check:
 	@./check_whence.py
 
 install:
-	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(FIRMWAREDIR)
+	install -d $(DESTDIR)$(FIRMWAREDIR)
 	./copy-firmware.sh $(DESTDIR)$(FIRMWAREDIR)
diff --git a/carl9170fw/toolchain/Makefile b/carl9170fw/toolchain/Makefile
index 2b25ffe6b92b9117f68c90511d1e8eb6ed8b8874..aaea8e84e1bb456b33915b68c7a285ba7ae052e7 100644
--- a/carl9170fw/toolchain/Makefile
+++ b/carl9170fw/toolchain/Makefile
@@ -46,14 +46,14 @@ src/gcc-$(GCC_VER): src/$(GCC_TAR) src/newlib-$(NEWLIB_VER)
 	ln -s $(BASEDIR)/src/newlib-$(NEWLIB_VER)/libgloss $@
 
 binutils: src/binutils-$(BINUTILS_VER)
-	mkdir -p build/binutils
+	install -d build/binutils
 	cd build/binutils; \
 	$(BASEDIR)/$</configure --target=sh-elf --prefix=$(BASEDIR)/inst; \
 	$(MAKE) -j3; \
 	$(MAKE) install
 
 gcc: src/gcc-$(GCC_VER) binutils
-	mkdir -p build/gcc
+	install -d build/gcc
 	cd build/gcc; \
 	$(BASEDIR)/$</configure --target=sh-elf --prefix=$(BASEDIR)/inst -enable-languages=c --without-pkgversion --with-newlib; \
 	$(MAKE) -j3; \
diff --git a/copy-firmware.sh b/copy-firmware.sh
index 9b46b63913ab546ed545f8665e03d1b9b8f4252d..bbacb925a03f9d4ccd0ad33c03d28f37f048199f 100755
--- a/copy-firmware.sh
+++ b/copy-firmware.sh
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ done
 grep '^File:' WHENCE | sed -e's/^File: *//g' -e's/"//g' | while read f; do
     test -f "$f" || continue
     $verbose "copying file $f"
-    mkdir -p $destdir/$(dirname "$f")
+    install -d $destdir/$(dirname "$f")
     cp -d "$f" $destdir/"$f"
 done
 
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ grep -E '^Link:' WHENCE | sed -e's/^Link: *//g' -e's/-> //g' | while read f d; d
     if test -L "$f"; then
         test -f "$destdir/$f" && continue
         $verbose "copying link $f"
-        mkdir -p $destdir/$(dirname "$f")
+        install -d $destdir/$(dirname "$f")
         cp -d "$f" $destdir/"$f"
 
         if test "x$d" != "x"; then
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ grep -E '^Link:' WHENCE | sed -e's/^Link: *//g' -e's/-> //g' | while read f d; d
         fi
     else
         $verbose "creating link $f -> $d"
-        mkdir -p $destdir/$(dirname "$f")
+        install -d $destdir/$(dirname "$f")
         ln -sf "$d" "$destdir/$f"
     fi
 done