--- a/make/common/MakeBase.gmk	Wed Nov 15 23:25:40 2017 +0530
+++ b/make/common/MakeBase.gmk	Wed Nov 15 11:50:55 2017 -0800
@@ -473,15 +473,32 @@
     $(subst $(SPACE),?,$(strip $1))
 
 ################################################################################
-# Make directory without forking mkdir if not needed
+# Make directory without forking mkdir if not needed.
+#
+# If a directory with an encoded space is provided, the wildcard function
+# sometimes returns false answers (typically if the dir existed when the
+# makefile was parsed, but was deleted by a previous rule). In that case, always
+# call mkdir regardless of what wildcard says.
+#
 # 1: List of directories to create
 MakeDir = \
     $(strip \
-        $(eval MakeDir_dirs_to_make := $(strip $(foreach d, $1, $(if $(wildcard $d), , \
-            "$(call DecodeSpace, $d)")))) \
+        $(eval MakeDir_dirs_to_make := $(strip $(foreach d, $1, \
+          $(if $(findstring ?, $d), '$(call DecodeSpace, $d)', \
+            $(if $(wildcard $d), , $d) \
+          ) \
+        ))) \
         $(if $(MakeDir_dirs_to_make), $(shell $(MKDIR) -p $(MakeDir_dirs_to_make))) \
     )
 
+# Make directory for target file. Should handle spaces in filenames. Just
+# calling $(call MakeDir $(@D)) will not work if the directory contains a space
+# and the target file already exists. In that case, the target file will have
+# its wildcard ? resolved and the $(@D) will evaluate each space separated dir
+# part on its own.
+MakeTargetDir = \
+    $(call MakeDir, $(dir $(call EncodeSpace, $@)))
+
 ################################################################################
 # Assign a variable only if it is empty
 # Param 1 - Variable to assign
@@ -499,7 +516,7 @@
   # If the source and target parent directories are the same, recursive copy doesn't work
   # so we fall back on regular copy, which isn't preserving symlinks.
   define install-file
-	$(call MakeDir, $(@D))
+	$(call MakeTargetDir)
 	$(RM) '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'
 	if [ '$(call DecodeSpace, $(dir $@))' != \
 	    '$(call DecodeSpace, $(dir $(call EncodeSpace, $<)))' ]; then \
@@ -526,21 +543,21 @@
   # If copying a soft link to a directory, need to delete the target first to avoid
   # weird errors.
   define install-file
-	$(call MakeDir, $(@D))
+	$(call MakeTargetDir)
 	$(RM) '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'
 	$(CP) -fRP '$(call DecodeSpace, $<)' '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'
 	if [ -n "`$(XATTR) -ls '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'`" ]; then $(XATTR) -cs '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'; fi
   endef
 else
   define install-file
-	$(call MakeDir, $(@D))
+	$(call MakeTargetDir)
 	$(CP) -fP '$(call DecodeSpace, $<)' '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'
   endef
 endif
 
 # Variant of install file that does not preserve symlinks
 define install-file-nolink
-	$(call MakeDir, $(@D))
+	$(call MakeTargetDir)
 	$(CP) -f '$(call DecodeSpace, $<)' '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'
 endef
 
@@ -590,13 +607,13 @@
 # careful when using this on Windows since the symlink created is only valid in
 # the unix emulation environment.
 define link-file-relative
-	$(call MakeDir, $(@D))
+	$(call MakeTargetDir)
 	$(RM) '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'
 	$(LN) -s '$(call DecodeSpace, $(call RelativePath, $<, $(@D)))' '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'
 endef
 
 define link-file-absolute
-	$(call MakeDir, $(@D))
+	$(call MakeTargetDir)
 	$(RM) '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'
 	$(LN) -s '$(call DecodeSpace, $<)' '$(call DecodeSpace, $@)'
 endef

--- a/test/make/TestCopyFiles.gmk	Wed Nov 15 23:25:40 2017 +0530
+++ b/test/make/TestCopyFiles.gmk	Wed Nov 15 11:50:55 2017 -0800
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 DEST_DIR := $(OUTPUT_DIR)/dest
 
 $(OUTPUT_DIR)/_src_created: $(DEPS)
+	$(RM) -r $(DEST_DIR)
 	$(RM) -r $(SRC_DIR)
 	$(MKDIR) -p $(SRC_DIR)
 	$(MKDIR) -p $(SRC_DIR)/foo
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@
 	$(TOUCH) $(SRC_DIR)/foo/foofile
 	$(TOUCH) "$(SRC_DIR)/foo/foo file"
         # Spaces in directories only works with gnu make 4.0 or later
-        ifeq (4.0, $(firstword $(sort 4.0 $(MAKE_VERSION))))
+        ifeq (4.0dfd, $(firstword $(sort 4.0 $(MAKE_VERSION))))
 	  $(MKDIR) -p "$(SRC_DIR)/foo bar"
 	  $(TOUCH) "$(SRC_DIR)/foo bar/foobarfile"
 	  $(TOUCH) "$(SRC_DIR)/foo bar/foo bar file"
@@ -65,15 +66,32 @@
     FILES := $(call CacheFind, $(SRC_DIR)), \
 ))
 
+# Optionally define a rule that deletes all the target files after the makefile
+# has been parsed. GNU make has specific problems with this in combination with
+# spaces in directory names.
+ifeq ($(DELETE_FIRST), true)
+  delete-targets:
+	$(RM) -r $(DEST_DIR)
+	$(ECHO) '$(DEST_DIR)/foo' '$(wildcard $(DEST_DIR)/foo)'
+
+  $(COPY_1): delete-targets
+endif
+
 do-copy1: $(COPY_1)
 
 run-test1: $(OUTPUT_DIR)/_src_created
+	$(ECHO) "Copy 1 first time"
 	+$(MAKE) -f $(THIS_FILE) do-copy1
 	$(DIFF) -r $(SRC_DIR) $(DEST_DIR)
+        # Rerun the copy a second time, with the targets present at make parse
+        # time, but then deleted by a prerequisite rule.
+	$(ECHO) "Copy 1 second time"
+	+$(MAKE) -f $(THIS_FILE) do-copy1 DELETE_FIRST=true
+	$(DIFF) -r $(SRC_DIR) $(DEST_DIR)
 
 TEST_TARGETS += run-test1
 
-.PHONY: do-copy1 run-test1
+.PHONY: do-copy1 run-test1 delete-targets
 
 ################################################################################