--- a/client.mk
+++ b/client.mk
@@ -171,19 +171,21 @@ CONFIGURES += $(TOPSRCDIR)/mozilla/js/sr
 #######################################################################
 # Rules
 
 # The default rule is build
 build::
 
 # These targets are candidates for auto-running client.py
 ifdef  ALWAYS_RUN_CLIENT_PY
+ifeq (0,${MAKELEVEL})
 build::                      run_client_py
 configure::                  run_client_py
 endif
+endif
 
 
 # Print out any options loaded from mozconfig.
 all build clean depend distclean export libs install realclean::
 	@if test -f .mozconfig.out; then \
 	  cat .mozconfig.out; \
 	  rm -f .mozconfig.out; \
 	else true; \