diff --git a/usr.bin/make/job.c b/usr.bin/make/job.c
index 8b83d33269e9..dcffdf5f7f7e 100644
--- a/usr.bin/make/job.c
+++ b/usr.bin/make/job.c
@@ -2822,7 +2822,6 @@ Job_ParseShell(char *line)
 	while (isspace((unsigned char)*line)) {
 		line++;
 	}
-	words = brk_string(line, &wordCount, TRUE);
 
 	memset(&newShell, 0, sizeof(newShell));
 	path = NULL;
@@ -2831,8 +2830,9 @@ Job_ParseShell(char *line)
 	 * Parse the specification by keyword but skip the first word - it
 	 * is not set by brk_string.
 	 */
-	wordCount--;
+	words = brk_string(line, &wordCount, TRUE);
 	words++;
+	wordCount--;
 
 	for (argc = wordCount, argv = words; argc != 0; argc--, argv++) {
 		/*
@@ -3310,6 +3310,11 @@ shellneed(char *cmd)
 	if (strpbrk(cmd, sh_meta) != NULL)
 		return (NULL);
 
+	/*
+	 * Break the command into words to form an argument
+	 * vector we can execute. brk_string sticks NULL
+	 * in av[0], so we have to skip over it...
+	 */
 	av = brk_string(cmd, NULL, TRUE);
 	for (p = sh_builtin; *p != 0; p++)
 		if (strcmp(av[1], *p) == 0)
diff --git a/usr.bin/make/str.c b/usr.bin/make/str.c
index 1ccf9f57cb04..372b3d826885 100644
--- a/usr.bin/make/str.c
+++ b/usr.bin/make/str.c
@@ -49,10 +49,11 @@ __FBSDID("$FreeBSD$");
 #include "globals.h"
 #include "str.h"
 #include "util.h"
-#include "var.h"
 
-static char **argv, *buffer;
-static int argmax, curlen;
+static char **argv;
+static char *buffer;
+static int argmax;
+static int curlen;
 
 /*
  * str_init --
@@ -62,10 +63,10 @@ static int argmax, curlen;
 void
 str_init(void)
 {
-    char *p1;
 
-    argv = emalloc(((argmax = 50) + 1) * sizeof(char *));
-    argv[0] = Var_Value(".MAKE", VAR_GLOBAL, &p1);
+	argmax = 50;
+	argv = emalloc((argmax + 1) * sizeof(char *));
+	argv[0] = NULL;
 }
 
 /*-
@@ -113,8 +114,7 @@ str_concat(const char *s1, const char *s2, int flags)
  *	are ignored.
  *
  * returns --
- *	Pointer to the array of pointers to the words.  To make life easier,
- *	the first word is always the value of the .MAKE variable.
+ *	Pointer to the array of pointers to the words.
  */
 char **
 brk_string(const char *str, int *store_argc, Boolean expand)