diff --git a/applets/Makefile.in b/applets/Makefile.in
index 64aefc0..391b465 100644
--- a/applets/Makefile.in
+++ b/applets/Makefile.in
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 #
 # Licensed under the GPL v2, see the file LICENSE in this tarball.
 
-srcdir=$(top_srcdir)/applets
-objdir=$(top_builddir)/applets
+srcdir:=$(top_srcdir)/applets
+objdir:=$(top_builddir)/applets
 
 APPLETS_SRC:= $(patsubst %,$(srcdir)/%,applets.c busybox.c version.c)
 
@@ -14,3 +14,7 @@
 
 applets_OBJ:=$(patsubst $(srcdir)/%.c,$(objdir)/%.o,$(APPLETS_SRC))
 
+$(applets_OBJ): $(objdir)/%.o: $(srcdir)/%.c
+$(objdir)/applets.a: $(applets_OBJ)
+libraries-y:=$(libraries-y) $(objdir)/applets.a
+