diff --git a/share/mk/gendirdeps.mk b/share/mk/gendirdeps.mk
--- a/share/mk/gendirdeps.mk
+++ b/share/mk/gendirdeps.mk
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-# $Id: gendirdeps.mk,v 1.48 2022/09/09 17:44:29 sjg Exp $
+# $Id: gendirdeps.mk,v 1.49 2023/04/20 17:45:03 sjg Exp $
 
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause
+#
 # Copyright (c) 2011-2020, Simon J. Gerraty
 # Copyright (c) 2010-2018, Juniper Networks, Inc.
 # All rights reserved.
@@ -41,6 +43,37 @@
 #		symlink to another filesystem.
 #		_objroot must be a prefix match for _objtop
 
+# If any of GENDIRDEPS_FILTER, GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_DIR_VARS
+# or GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_VARS are set, we use them to filter the
+# output from filemon(4).
+# Any references to variables that dirdeps.mk will set
+# such as DEP_MACHINE, DEP_RELDIR etc, should use that form.
+# Thus we want ${DEP_MACHINE} not ${MACHINE} used in DIRDEPS.
+#
+# If any manually maintained Makefile.depend files will use any
+# DEP_* variables in conditionals, precautions are needed to avoid
+# errors when Makefile.depend is read at level 1+ (ie not via
+# dirdeps.mk)
+# Using MACHINE as an example; such makefiles can do:
+#
+# 	DEP_MACHINE ?= ${MACHINE}
+# 	.if ${DEP_MACHINE} == "xyz"
+#
+# or:
+# 
+# 	.if ${DEP_MACHINE:U${MACHINE}} == "xyz"
+#
+# but it might be safer to set GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_DIR_VARS and
+# GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_VARS via local.meta.sys.mk rather than
+# local.gendirdeps.mk and then:
+#
+# 	.if ${.MAKE.LEVEL} > 0
+# 	.for V in ${GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_DIR_VARS:MDEP_*} \
+# 		${GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_VARS:MDEP_*}
+# 	$V ?= ${${V:S,DEP_,,}}
+# 	.endfor
+# 	.endif
+# 
 .MAIN: all
 
 # keep this simple
diff --git a/share/mk/local.dirdeps.mk b/share/mk/local.dirdeps.mk
--- a/share/mk/local.dirdeps.mk
+++ b/share/mk/local.dirdeps.mk
@@ -207,12 +207,13 @@
 
 .if ${MK_STAGING} == "yes"
 # we need targets/pseudo/stage to prep the stage tree
-.if ${DEP_RELDIR} != "targets/pseudo/stage"
+.if ${DEP_RELDIR:N.:N${SRCTOP}:N*pseudo/stage} != ""
 DIRDEPS += targets/pseudo/stage
 .endif
 .endif
 
 DEP_MACHINE_ARCH = ${MACHINE_ARCH.${DEP_MACHINE}}
+DEP_MACHINE_CPUARCH = ${DEP_MACHINE_ARCH:${__TO_CPUARCH}}
 CSU_DIR.${DEP_MACHINE_ARCH} ?= csu/${DEP_MACHINE_ARCH}
 CSU_DIR := ${CSU_DIR.${DEP_MACHINE_ARCH}}
 BOOT_MACHINE_DIR:= ${BOOT_MACHINE_DIR.${DEP_MACHINE}}
diff --git a/share/mk/local.gendirdeps.mk b/share/mk/local.gendirdeps.mk
--- a/share/mk/local.gendirdeps.mk
+++ b/share/mk/local.gendirdeps.mk
@@ -53,20 +53,8 @@
 GENDIRDEPS_FILTER+= ${GENDIRDEPS_FILTER.${MACHINE}:U}
 
 # gendirdeps.mk will turn _{VAR} into ${VAR} which keeps this simple
-# order of this list matters!
-GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_DIR_VARS+= \
-       CSU_DIR \
-       BOOT_MACHINE_DIR
-
-# order of this list matters!
-GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_VARS+= \
-       KERNEL_NAME \
-       MACHINE_CPUARCH \
-       MACHINE_ARCH \
-       MACHINE
-
-GENDIRDEPS_FILTER+= ${GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_DIR_VARS:@v@S,${$v},_{${v}},@}
-GENDIRDEPS_FILTER+= ${GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_VARS:@v@S,/${$v}/,/_{${v}}/,@:NS,//,*:u}
+# see local.meta.sys.mk for GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_DIR_VARS and
+# GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_VARS
 
 # avoid churn for now
 LOCAL_DEPENDS_GUARD= _{DEP_RELDIR} == _{_DEP_RELDIR}
diff --git a/share/mk/local.meta.sys.mk b/share/mk/local.meta.sys.mk
--- a/share/mk/local.meta.sys.mk
+++ b/share/mk/local.meta.sys.mk
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # $FreeBSD$
 
 # local configuration specific to meta mode
-# XXX some of this should be in meta.sys.mk
 # we assume that MK_DIRDEPS_BUILD=yes
 
 # we need this until there is an alternative
@@ -34,7 +33,6 @@
 BOOT_MACHINE_DIR.$m ?= boot/$m
 .endfor
 
-.ifndef _TARGET_SPEC
 .if empty(MACHINE_ARCH)
 .if !empty(TARGET_ARCH)
 MACHINE_ARCH= ${TARGET_ARCH}
@@ -44,36 +42,6 @@
 .endif
 MACHINE_ARCH?= ${MACHINE_ARCH.${MACHINE}}
 MACHINE_ARCH:= ${MACHINE_ARCH}
-.else
-# we got here via dirdeps
-MACHINE_ARCH:= ${MACHINE_ARCH.${MACHINE}}
-.endif
-
-# now because for universe we want to potentially
-# build for multiple MACHINE_ARCH per MACHINE
-# we need more than MACHINE in TARGET_SPEC
-TARGET_SPEC_VARS?= MACHINE MACHINE_ARCH
-# see dirdeps.mk
-.if ${TARGET_SPEC:Uno:M*,*} != ""
-_tspec := ${TARGET_SPEC:S/,/ /g}
-MACHINE := ${_tspec:[1]}
-MACHINE_ARCH := ${_tspec:[2]}
-# etc.
-# We need to stop that TARGET_SPEC affecting any submakes
-# and deal with MACHINE=${TARGET_SPEC} in the environment.
-TARGET_SPEC=
-# export but do not track
-.export-env TARGET_SPEC 
-.export ${TARGET_SPEC_VARS}
-.for v in ${TARGET_SPEC_VARS:O:u}
-.if empty($v)
-.undef $v
-.endif
-.endfor
-.endif
-# make sure we know what TARGET_SPEC is
-# as we may need it to find Makefile.depend*
-TARGET_SPEC = ${TARGET_SPEC_VARS:@v@${$v:U}@:ts,}
 
 # to be consistent with src/Makefile just concatenate with '.'s
 TARGET_OBJ_SPEC:= ${TARGET_SPEC:S;,;.;g}
@@ -96,6 +64,7 @@
 .endif
 .if ${MACHINE} == "host"
 OBJTOP := ${HOST_OBJTOP}
+MACHINE_ARCH= ${MACHINE_ARCH.${MACHINE}}
 .endif
 
 .if ${.MAKE.LEVEL} == 0 || empty(PYTHON)
@@ -267,3 +236,30 @@
 .if empty(META_MODE:Mnofilemon)
 META_MODE+=	missing-filemon=yes
 .endif
+
+.if ${MK_DIRDEPS_BUILD} == "yes"
+# we set these here, rather than local.gendirdeps.mk
+# so we can ensure any DEP_* values that might be used in
+# conditionals do not cause syntax errors when Makefile.depend
+# is included at level 1+
+
+# order of this list matters!
+GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_DIR_VARS+= \
+       CSU_DIR \
+       BOOT_MACHINE_DIR
+
+# order of this list matters!
+GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_VARS+= \
+       KERNEL_NAME \
+       DEP_MACHINE_CPUARCH \
+       DEP_MACHINE_ARCH \
+       DEP_MACHINE
+
+.if ${.MAKE.LEVEL} > 0
+.for V in ${GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_DIR_VARS:MDEP_*:O:u} \
+	${GENDIRDEPS_FILTER_VARS:MDEP_*:O:u}
+$V?= ${${V:S,DEP_,,}}
+.endfor
+.endif
+
+.endif
diff --git a/share/mk/local.sys.env.mk b/share/mk/local.sys.env.mk
--- a/share/mk/local.sys.env.mk
+++ b/share/mk/local.sys.env.mk
@@ -50,3 +50,8 @@
 
 .include "src.sys.env.mk"
 .-include <site.sys.env.mk>
+
+# For universe we want to potentially
+# build for multiple MACHINE_ARCH per MACHINE
+# so we need more than MACHINE in TARGET_SPEC
+TARGET_SPEC_VARS?= MACHINE MACHINE_ARCH
diff --git a/share/mk/meta.sys.mk b/share/mk/meta.sys.mk
--- a/share/mk/meta.sys.mk
+++ b/share/mk/meta.sys.mk
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-# $FreeBSD$
-# $Id: meta.sys.mk,v 1.42 2021/12/13 05:50:55 sjg Exp $
+# $Id: meta.sys.mk,v 1.46 2023/04/18 18:43:00 sjg Exp $
 
 #
 #	@(#) Copyright (c) 2010-2021, Simon J. Gerraty
@@ -21,7 +20,44 @@
 .if ${MAKE_VERSION:U0} > 20100901
 .if !target(.ERROR)
 
-.-include <local.meta.sys.mk>
+.-include <local.meta.sys.env.mk>
+
+# If TARGET_SPEC_VARS is other than just MACHINE
+# it should be set by now.
+# TARGET_SPEC must not contain any '.'s.
+TARGET_SPEC_VARS ?= MACHINE
+
+.if !target(_meta_tspec_env_done_)
+_meta_tspec_env_done_: .NOTMAIN
+# Allow for local.meta.sys.env.mk to have done this
+
+.if ${TARGET_SPEC:Uno:M*,*} != ""
+# deal with TARGET_SPEC from env
+_tspec := ${TARGET_SPEC:S/,/ /g}
+.for i in ${TARGET_SPEC_VARS:${M_RANGE:Urange}}
+${TARGET_SPEC_VARS:[$i]} := ${_tspec:[$i]}
+.endfor
+# We need to stop that TARGET_SPEC affecting any submakes
+TARGET_SPEC=
+# so export but do not track
+.export-env TARGET_SPEC
+.export ${TARGET_SPEC_VARS}
+.for v in ${TARGET_SPEC_VARS:O:u}
+.if empty($v)
+.undef $v
+.endif
+.endfor
+.endif
+.endif
+
+# Now make sure we know what TARGET_SPEC is
+# as we may need it to find Makefile.depend*
+.if ${MACHINE:Mhost*} != ""
+# host is special
+TARGET_SPEC = ${MACHINE}
+.else
+TARGET_SPEC = ${TARGET_SPEC_VARS:@v@${$v:U}@:ts,}
+.endif
 
 # absolute path to what we are reading.
 _PARSEDIR = ${.PARSEDIR:tA}
@@ -178,3 +214,5 @@
 META_NOECHO= echo
 .endif
 .endif
+
+.-include <local.meta.sys.mk>