diff --git a/apps/ChangeLog.txt b/apps/ChangeLog.txt
index 02843d547a..79de56614c 100644
--- a/apps/ChangeLog.txt
+++ b/apps/ChangeLog.txt
@@ -380,3 +380,6 @@
 	* apps/examples/nximage/nximage_main.c:  Add a 5 second delay after the
 	  NX logo is presented so that there is time for the image to be verified.
 	  Suggested by Petteri Aimonen.
+i	* apps/Makefile: Small change that reduces the number of shell invocations
+	  by one (Mike Smith).
+
diff --git a/apps/Makefile b/apps/Makefile
index e407e2de87..be98dbbfe2 100644
--- a/apps/Makefile
+++ b/apps/Makefile
@@ -114,8 +114,9 @@ $(foreach BUILTIN, $(CONFIGURED_APPS), $(eval $(call ADD_BUILTIN,$(BUILTIN))))
 # provided by the user (possibly as a symbolic link) to add libraries and
 # applications to the standard build from the repository.
 
-INSTALLED_APPS += ${shell if [ -r external/Makefile ]; then echo "external"; fi}
-SUBDIRS += ${shell if [ -r external/Makefile ]; then echo "external"; fi}
+EXTERNAL_DIR := $(dir $(wildcard external/Makefile))
+INSTALLED_APPS += $(EXTERNAL_DIR)
+SUBDIRS += $(EXTERNAL_DIR)
 
 # The final build target