diff --git a/share/mk/sys.dirdeps.mk b/share/mk/sys.dirdeps.mk
index 1e3363c2233..4d2dfa8416f 100644
--- a/share/mk/sys.dirdeps.mk
+++ b/share/mk/sys.dirdeps.mk
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause
 #
-# $Id: sys.dirdeps.mk,v 1.14 2024/02/25 19:12:13 sjg Exp $
+# $Id: sys.dirdeps.mk,v 1.15 2024/04/18 17:18:31 sjg Exp $
 #
 #	@(#) Copyright (c) 2012-2023, Simon J. Gerraty
 #
@@ -196,11 +196,10 @@ RELSRCTOP?= ${RELTOP}
 # just in case
 .MAKE.DEPENDFILE ?= Makefile.depend
 
-.if ${.MAKE.LEVEL} > 0
-# Makefile.depend* also get read at level 1+
-# and often refer to DEP_MACHINE etc,
-# so ensure DEP_* (for TARGET_SPEC_VARS anyway) are set
-.for V in ${TARGET_SPEC_VARS}
-DEP_$V = ${$V}
+# Makefile.depend* often refer to DEP_MACHINE etc,
+# we need defaults for both first include in a leaf dir
+# and when level > 0
+# so ensure DEP_* for TARGET_SPEC_VARS and RELDIR are set
+.for V in ${TARGET_SPEC_VARS} RELDIR
+DEP_$V ?= ${$V}
 .endfor
-.endif