diff --git a/make/defaults-module.mk b/make/defaults-module.mk
index a4a743fbb..e6a29c44d 100644
--- a/make/defaults-module.mk
+++ b/make/defaults-module.mk
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 # A bit of sed fun to ensure MAKE_DIR does not end with a '/'
 # This is not a problem, but it makes the output nicer
-MAKE_DIR := $(shell echo $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))) | sed "s|/$$||")
+MAKE_DIR := $(shell echo $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))) | perl -pe "s|/$$||")
 
 ifneq ($(.SHELLSTATUS),0)
   $(error extracting `make` directory based on defaults-module.mk location failed)
 endif
 
+$(info found MAKE_DIR = $(MAKE_DIR))
+
 BUILD_DIR ?= build
 COMPILER ?= gfortran
 VERSION ?= $(file <$(MAKE_DIR)../data/version_number)