diff --git a/mk/dir.mk b/mk/dir.mk
index 1800d25c..3344bf84 100644
--- a/mk/dir.mk
+++ b/mk/dir.mk
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ MKSUBDIR = \
 	set -e;							\
 	targ=$@; targ=$${targ\#d};				\
 	for i in $$dirs; do					\
+		export $(SUBMAKE_EXPORT);			\
 		export BASE=$(BASE)$$i/;			\
 		if [ ! -d $$i ]; then				\
 			echo Skipping nonexistent directory: $$i 1>&2;	\
diff --git a/mk/hdr.mk b/mk/hdr.mk
index ef1e2d4a..5d551de4 100644
--- a/mk/hdr.mk
+++ b/mk/hdr.mk
@@ -1,3 +1,23 @@
+DIR =
+DIRS =
+DOC =
+DOCDIR =
+DOCS =
+EXECS =
+HFILES =
+INCLUDES =
+LIB =
+LIBS =
+OBJ =
+OFILES =
+OFILES_PIC =
+PACKAGES =
+PROG =
+SO =
+TAGFILES =
+TARG =
+TEXT =
+
 FILTER = cat
 
 EXCFLAGS = $(INCLUDES) -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=600
diff --git a/mk/wmii.mk b/mk/wmii.mk
index 2452178b..d0e35841 100644
--- a/mk/wmii.mk
+++ b/mk/wmii.mk
@@ -1,11 +1,18 @@
+
 VERS = hg$$(hg identify -n)
-VERS = hg$$(hg log -r $$(hg id 2>/dev/null | awk -F'[+ ]' '{print $$1}') --template '{rev}' 2>/dev/null)
-VERSION = $(VERS)
-VERSION := $(shell echo $(VERS))
-VERSION != echo $(VERS)
+VERS = $$(test -n "$$WMII_HGVERSION" && echo $$WMII_HGVERSION || \
+          echo hg$$(hg log -r $$(hg id 2>/dev/null | awk -F'[+ ]' '{print $$1}') --template '{rev}' 2>/dev/null))
+
+WMII_HGVERSION = $(VERS)
+WMII_HGVERSION := $(shell echo $(VERS))
+WMII_HGVERSION != echo $(VERS)
+VERSION = $(WMII_HGVERSION)
 CONFVERSION = -hg
 COPYRIGHT = ©2009 Kris Maglione
 
+.MAKE.EXPORTED += WMII_HGVERSION
+SUBMAKE_EXPORT = WMII_HGVERSION=$(WMII_HGVERSION)
+
 LIBS9 = $(ROOT)/lib/libregexp9.a $(ROOT)/lib/libbio.a $(ROOT)/lib/libfmt.a $(ROOT)/lib/libutf.a
 
 CFLAGS += '-DVERSION=\"$(VERSION)\"' '-DCOPYRIGHT=\"$(COPYRIGHT)\"' \