--- a/mobile/android/base/Makefile.in
+++ b/mobile/android/base/Makefile.in
@@ -1381,25 +1381,26 @@ res/drawable-hdpi/icon.png: $(ICON_PATH_
 res/drawable-xhdpi/icon.png: $(ICON_PATH_XHDPI)
 	$(NSINSTALL) -D res/drawable-xhdpi
 	cp $(ICON_PATH_XHDPI) $@
 
 res/drawable-xxhdpi/icon.png: $(ICON_PATH_XXHDPI)
 	$(NSINSTALL) -D res/drawable-xxhdpi
 	cp $(ICON_PATH_XXHDPI) $@
 
-$(RES_DIRS): $(subst res/,$(srcdir)/resources/,$(RESOURCES))
-	$(RM) -r $@
-	$(NSINSTALL) -D $@
+$(call mkdir_deps,$(RES_DIRS)): $(subst res/,$(srcdir)/resources/,$(RESOURCES)) Makefile
+	$(RM) -r $(@D)
+	$(NSINSTALL) -D $(@D)
+	$(TOUCH) $@
 
-$(RESOURCES): $(RES_DIRS) $(subst res/,$(srcdir)/resources/,$(RESOURCES))
+$(RESOURCES): $(call mkdir_deps,$(RES_DIRS)) $(subst res/,$(srcdir)/resources/,$(RESOURCES))
 	@echo "creating $@"
 	$(NSINSTALL) $(subst res/,$(srcdir)/resources/,$@) $(dir $@)
 
-res/values/strings.xml: $(RES_DIRS)
+res/values/strings.xml: $(call mkdir_deps,$(RES_DIRS))
 	$(MAKE) -C locales
 
 # With multilocale builds, there will be multiple strings.xml files. We need to
 # rebuild gecko.ap_ if any of them change.
 MULTILOCALE_STRINGS_XML_FILES := $(wildcard res/values-*/strings.xml)
 all_resources = \
   res/drawable-mdpi/icon.png \
   res/drawable-hdpi/icon.png \

--- a/mobile/android/base/locales/Makefile.in
+++ b/mobile/android/base/locales/Makefile.in
@@ -56,16 +56,17 @@ strings-xml-preqs =\
   $(STRINGSPATH) \
   $(SYNCSTRINGSPATH) \
   $(BOOKMARKSPATH) \
   $(if $(IS_LANGUAGE_REPACK),FORCE) \
   $(NULL)
 
 $(dir-strings-xml)/strings.xml: $(strings-xml-preqs)
 	$(NSINSTALL) -D $(dir-strings-xml)
+	$(TOUCH) $(call mkdir_deps,$(dir-strings-xml))
 	$(PYTHON) $(topsrcdir)/config/Preprocessor.py \
       $(DEFINES) \
 	  -DBRANDPATH="$(BRANDPATH)" \
 	  -DSTRINGSPATH="$(STRINGSPATH)" \
 	  -DSYNCSTRINGSPATH="$(SYNCSTRINGSPATH)" \
 	  -DBOOKMARKSPATH="$(BOOKMARKSPATH)" \
 	  -DMOZ_APP_DISPLAYNAME="@MOZ_APP_DISPLAYNAME@" \
       $< \