diff --git a/src/Makefile_Eolian_Cxx_Helper.am b/src/Makefile_Eolian_Cxx_Helper.am
index 94f581e6e9..eb28a54e43 100644
--- a/src/Makefile_Eolian_Cxx_Helper.am
+++ b/src/Makefile_Eolian_Cxx_Helper.am
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ am__v_EOLCXX_0 = @echo "  EOLCXX  " $@;
 
 SUFFIXES += .eo.hh
 
+
+#disable rules for subdir builds to avoid recursive dependencies
+../%.eo.hh: %.eo $(_EOLIAN_CXX_DEP)
+../%.eo.impl.hh: %.eo $(_EOLIAN_CXX_DEP)
+
 %.eo.impl.hh %.eo.hh: %.eo $(_EOLIAN_CXX_DEP)
 	$(AM_V_EOLCXX) \
 	$(MKDIR_P) $(@D); \
diff --git a/src/Makefile_Eolian_Files_Helper.am b/src/Makefile_Eolian_Files_Helper.am
index 37d5114d14..35bf1318cc 100644
--- a/src/Makefile_Eolian_Files_Helper.am
+++ b/src/Makefile_Eolian_Files_Helper.am
@@ -5,6 +5,13 @@ am__v_EOL_0 = @echo "  EOLIAN  " $@;
 
 SUFFIXES = .eo .eo.c .eo.h .eo.legacy.h .eot .eot.h
 
+
+#disable rules for subdir builds to avoid recursive dependencies
+../%.eo.c: %.eo ${_EOLIAN_GEN_DEP}
+../%.eo.h: %.eo ${_EOLIAN_GEN_DEP}
+../%.eot.h: %.eot ${_EOLIAN_GEN_DEP}
+../%.eo.legacy.h: %.eo ${_EOLIAN_GEN_DEP}
+
 %.eo.c: %.eo ${_EOLIAN_GEN_DEP}
 	$(AM_V_EOL) \
 	$(MKDIR_P) $(@D); \
diff --git a/src/Makefile_Eolian_Js_Helper.am b/src/Makefile_Eolian_Js_Helper.am
index fc60a8db0d..e96db1a352 100644
--- a/src/Makefile_Eolian_Js_Helper.am
+++ b/src/Makefile_Eolian_Js_Helper.am
@@ -14,3 +14,5 @@ SUFFIXES += .eo.js.cc
 
 %.eo.js.cc: %.eo $(_EOLIAN_JS_DEP)
 	$(AM_V_EOLJS)$(EOLIAN_JS) $(EOLIAN_FLAGS) -o $@ $<
+
+../%.eo.js.cc: %.eo $(_EOLIAN_JS_DEP)