diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b8d4367e72b..03ab0446522 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ ifeq ($(BUILD_DIRS_ONLY),1)
   OPTIONAL_DIRS :=
 else
   DIRS := lib/System lib/Support utils lib/VMCore lib tools/llvm-config \
-          tools runtime docs
+          tools runtime docs unittests
   OPTIONAL_DIRS := examples projects bindings
 endif
 
diff --git a/Makefile.rules b/Makefile.rules
index 8d1e621845a..7999c7a3ca9 100644
--- a/Makefile.rules
+++ b/Makefile.rules
@@ -19,10 +19,11 @@
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Define the various target sets
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
-RecursiveTargets := all clean clean-all install uninstall install-bytecode
+RecursiveTargets := all clean clean-all install uninstall install-bytecode \
+                    unitcheck
 LocalTargets     := all-local clean-local clean-all-local check-local \
                     install-local printvars uninstall-local \
-		    install-bytecode-local unittests
+		    install-bytecode-local
 TopLevelTargets  := check dist dist-check dist-clean dist-gzip dist-bzip2 \
                     dist-zip unittests
 UserTargets      := $(RecursiveTargets) $(LocalTargets) $(TopLevelTargets)
@@ -800,6 +801,7 @@ clean-all:: $(addsuffix /.makeclean-all,$(PARALLEL_DIRS))
 install  :: $(addsuffix /.makeinstall  ,$(PARALLEL_DIRS))
 uninstall:: $(addsuffix /.makeuninstall,$(PARALLEL_DIRS))
 install-bytecode  :: $(addsuffix /.makeinstall-bytecode,$(PARALLEL_DIRS))
+unitcheck:: $(addsuffix /.makeunitcheck,$(PARALLEL_DIRS))
 
 ParallelTargets := $(foreach T,$(RecursiveTargets),%/.make$(T))
 
@@ -1619,7 +1621,7 @@ unittests::
 	$(Verb) if test -d "$(PROJ_OBJ_ROOT)/unittests" ; then \
 	  if test -f "$(PROJ_OBJ_ROOT)/unittests/Makefile" ; then \
 	    $(EchoCmd) Running unittests test suite ; \
-	    $(MAKE) -C $(PROJ_OBJ_ROOT)/unittests ; \
+	    $(MAKE) -C $(PROJ_OBJ_ROOT)/unittests unitcheck; \
 	  else \
 	    $(EchoCmd) No Makefile in unittests directory ; \
 	  fi ; \
diff --git a/unittests/Makefile.unittest b/unittests/Makefile.unittest
index 1c75e44d077..355e6a34f51 100644
--- a/unittests/Makefile.unittest
+++ b/unittests/Makefile.unittest
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ $(LLVMUnitTestExe): $(ObjectsO) $(ProjLibsPaths) $(LLVMLibsPaths)
           $(StripWarnMsg)
 
 all:: $(LLVMUnitTestExe)
+
+unitcheck:: $(LLVMUnitTestExe)
 	$(LLVMUnitTestExe)
 
 endif