diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/Makefile b/doc/src/sgml/Makefile
index f122b4187f..74aac01c39 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/Makefile
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/Makefile
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 # to want to use.
 html:
 
+# We don't need the tree-wide headers or install support here.
+NO_GENERATED_HEADERS=yes
 NO_TEMP_INSTALL=yes
 
 subdir = doc/src/sgml
diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index 0e56399cb9..bcdbd9588a 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -41,11 +41,6 @@ endif
 
 $(recurse)
 
-# Update the commonly used headers before building the subdirectories;
-# otherwise, in a parallel build, several different sub-jobs will try to
-# remake them concurrently
-$(SUBDIRS:%=all-%-recurse): | submake-generated-headers
-
 install: install-local
 
 install-local: installdirs-local
diff --git a/src/Makefile.global.in b/src/Makefile.global.in
index 19c9c1e11e..20090b360e 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.global.in
+++ b/src/Makefile.global.in
@@ -348,11 +348,39 @@ XGETTEXT = @XGETTEXT@
 GZIP	= gzip
 BZIP2	= bzip2
 
+
+# Tree-wide build support
+
+# Just about every code subdirectory wants to have the generated headers
+# available before building, but we don't want parallel makes all trying
+# to build the same headers.  These rules, together with the recursion rules
+# below, ensure that we update the generated headers once, if needed,
+# at the top level of any "make all" or "make install" request.  If a
+# particular subdirectory knows this isn't needed in itself or its children,
+# it can set NO_GENERATED_HEADERS.
+
+all install: submake-generated-headers
+
+.PHONY: submake-generated-headers
+
+submake-generated-headers:
+ifndef NO_GENERATED_HEADERS
+ifeq ($(MAKELEVEL),0)
+	$(MAKE) -C $(top_builddir)/src/backend generated-headers
+endif
+endif
+
+
 # Testing
 
+# In much the same way as above, these rules ensure that we build a temp
+# install tree just once in any recursive "make check".  The additional test
+# on abs_top_builddir prevents doing anything foolish to the root directory.
+
 check: temp-install
 
 .PHONY: temp-install
+
 temp-install:
 ifndef NO_TEMP_INSTALL
 ifneq ($(abs_top_builddir),)
@@ -544,10 +572,7 @@ submake-libpgfeutils:
 	$(MAKE) -C $(top_builddir)/src/common all
 	$(MAKE) -C $(top_builddir)/src/fe_utils all
 
-submake-generated-headers:
-	$(MAKE) -C $(top_builddir)/src/backend generated-headers
-
-.PHONY: submake-libpq submake-libpgport submake-libpgfeutils submake-generated-headers
+.PHONY: submake-libpq submake-libpgport submake-libpgfeutils
 
 
 ##########################################################################
@@ -782,7 +807,9 @@ endif
 
 # This function is only for internal use below.  It should be called
 # using $(eval).  It will set up a target so that it recurses into
-# a given subdirectory.  Note that to avoid a nasty bug in make 3.80,
+# a given subdirectory.  For the tree-wide all/install/check cases,
+# ensure we do our one-time tasks before recursing (see targets above).
+# Note that to avoid a nasty bug in make 3.80,
 # this function has to avoid using any complicated constructs (like
 # multiple targets on a line) and also not contain any lines that expand
 # to more than about 200 bytes.  This is why we make it apply to just one
@@ -793,7 +820,7 @@ endif
 define _create_recursive_target
 .PHONY: $(1)-$(2)-recurse
 $(1): $(1)-$(2)-recurse
-$(1)-$(2)-recurse: $(if $(filter check, $(3)), temp-install)
+$(1)-$(2)-recurse: $(if $(filter all install, $(3)), submake-generated-headers) $(if $(filter check, $(3)), temp-install)
 	$$(MAKE) -C $(2) $(3)
 endef
 # Note that the use of $$ on the last line above is important; we want
diff --git a/src/backend/Makefile b/src/backend/Makefile
index 82a59eac2d..1aaf1ec2f5 100644
--- a/src/backend/Makefile
+++ b/src/backend/Makefile
@@ -111,14 +111,6 @@ endif
 
 endif # aix
 
-# Update the commonly used headers before building the subdirectories
-$(SUBDIRS:%=%-recursive): | generated-headers
-
-# src/port needs a convenient way to force just errcodes.h to get built
-submake-errcodes: $(top_builddir)/src/include/utils/errcodes.h
-
-.PHONY: submake-errcodes
-
 $(top_builddir)/src/port/libpgport_srv.a: | submake-libpgport
 
 
diff --git a/src/backend/jit/llvm/Makefile b/src/backend/jit/llvm/Makefile
index d7a36d7371..e2db4cea65 100644
--- a/src/backend/jit/llvm/Makefile
+++ b/src/backend/jit/llvm/Makefile
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ CFLAGS += $(LLVM_CFLAGS)
 CXXFLAGS += $(LLVM_CXXFLAGS)
 override CPPFLAGS := $(LLVM_CPPFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS)
 SHLIB_LINK += $(LLVM_LIBS)
-SHLIB_PREREQS += submake-generated-headers
 
 # Because this module includes C++ files, we need to use a C++
 # compiler for linking. Makefile.shlib uses $(COMPILER) to build
diff --git a/src/common/Makefile b/src/common/Makefile
index e9e75867f3..1fc2c66225 100644
--- a/src/common/Makefile
+++ b/src/common/Makefile
@@ -88,13 +88,6 @@ libpgcommon_srv.a: $(OBJS_SRV)
 %_srv.o: %.c %.o
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(subst -DFRONTEND ,, $(CPPFLAGS)) -c $< -o $@
 
-$(OBJS_SRV): | submake-errcodes
-
-.PHONY: submake-errcodes
-
-submake-errcodes:
-	$(MAKE) -C ../backend submake-errcodes
-
 # Dependencies of keywords.o need to be managed explicitly to make sure
 # that you don't get broken parsing code, even in a non-enable-depend build.
 # Note that gram.h isn't required for the frontend version of keywords.o.
diff --git a/src/pl/plpython/Makefile b/src/pl/plpython/Makefile
index d09910835d..fb785496ea 100644
--- a/src/pl/plpython/Makefile
+++ b/src/pl/plpython/Makefile
@@ -99,9 +99,6 @@ include $(top_srcdir)/src/Makefile.shlib
 
 all: all-lib
 
-$(OBJS): | submake-generated-headers
-
-
 install: all install-lib install-data
 
 installdirs: installdirs-lib
diff --git a/src/port/Makefile b/src/port/Makefile
index f328b705e4..d7467fb078 100644
--- a/src/port/Makefile
+++ b/src/port/Makefile
@@ -87,13 +87,6 @@ libpgport_srv.a: $(OBJS_SRV)
 %_srv.o: %.c %.o
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(subst -DFRONTEND,, $(CPPFLAGS)) -c $< -o $@
 
-$(OBJS_SRV): | submake-errcodes
-
-.PHONY: submake-errcodes
-
-submake-errcodes:
-	$(MAKE) -C ../backend submake-errcodes
-
 # Dependency is to ensure that path changes propagate
 
 path.o: path.c pg_config_paths.h
diff --git a/src/test/modules/Makefile b/src/test/modules/Makefile
index a9b8377acf..19d60a506e 100644
--- a/src/test/modules/Makefile
+++ b/src/test/modules/Makefile
@@ -20,6 +20,4 @@ SUBDIRS = \
 		  test_shm_mq \
 		  worker_spi
 
-all: submake-generated-headers
-
 $(recurse)
diff --git a/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile b/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile
index deef08dfc1..7ba4e9c5ab 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile
+++ b/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile
@@ -65,8 +65,6 @@ include $(top_srcdir)/src/Makefile.shlib
 
 all: all-lib
 
-$(OBJS): | submake-generated-headers
-
 # Test input and expected files.  These are created by pg_regress itself, so we
 # don't have a rule to create them.  We do need rules to clean them however.
 input_files = $(patsubst $(srcdir)/input/%.source,sql/%.sql, $(wildcard $(srcdir)/input/*.source))
@@ -107,7 +105,7 @@ $(top_builddir)/contrib/spi/refint$(DLSUFFIX): | submake-contrib-spi ;
 
 $(top_builddir)/contrib/spi/autoinc$(DLSUFFIX): | submake-contrib-spi ;
 
-submake-contrib-spi: | submake-libpgport submake-generated-headers
+submake-contrib-spi: | submake-libpgport
 	$(MAKE) -C $(top_builddir)/contrib/spi
 
 .PHONY: submake-contrib-spi