>> > The SHELL make/env variable lets you set the shell make should use for >> > all its commands. This can to be a full path. Actually make should not pay attention to $SHELL at all. Imagine the hell that would result - trying to write a makefile that would be usable by more than one person (think [t]csh vs [k]sh). Here's a useful example of what you can do today without recompiling anything: .SHELL: name=sh path=/bin/bash all: @echo "SHELL=$$SHELL BASH=$$BASH_VERSION" $ make -f ~/tmp/make-tests/shell SHELL=/bin/ksh BASH=2.05b.0(1)-release $