diff --git a/build/make/Makefile b/build/make/Makefile
index da5721adb..e048e9cc8 100644
--- a/build/make/Makefile
+++ b/build/make/Makefile
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ $(BUILD_PFX)%.c.d: %.c
 
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.c.o: %.c
 	$(if $(quiet),@echo "    [CC] $@")
+	$(qexec)$(if $(CONFIG_DEPENDENCY_TRACKING),,mkdir -p $(dir $@))
 	$(qexec)$(CC) $(INTERNAL_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
 
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.cc.d: %.cc
@@ -155,6 +156,7 @@ $(BUILD_PFX)%.cc.d: %.cc
 
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.cc.o: %.cc
 	$(if $(quiet),@echo "    [CXX] $@")
+	$(qexec)$(if $(CONFIG_DEPENDENCY_TRACKING),,mkdir -p $(dir $@))
 	$(qexec)$(CXX) $(INTERNAL_CFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
 
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.cpp.d: %.cpp
@@ -164,6 +166,7 @@ $(BUILD_PFX)%.cpp.d: %.cpp
 
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.cpp.o: %.cpp
 	$(if $(quiet),@echo "    [CXX] $@")
+	$(qexec)$(if $(CONFIG_DEPENDENCY_TRACKING),,mkdir -p $(dir $@))
 	$(qexec)$(CXX) $(INTERNAL_CFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
 
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.asm.d: %.asm
@@ -174,6 +177,7 @@ $(BUILD_PFX)%.asm.d: %.asm
 
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.asm.o: %.asm
 	$(if $(quiet),@echo "    [AS] $@")
+	$(qexec)$(if $(CONFIG_DEPENDENCY_TRACKING),,mkdir -p $(dir $@))
 	$(qexec)$(AS) $(ASFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.s.d: %.s
@@ -184,12 +188,14 @@ $(BUILD_PFX)%.s.d: %.s
 
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.s.o: %.s
 	$(if $(quiet),@echo "    [AS] $@")
+	$(qexec)$(if $(CONFIG_DEPENDENCY_TRACKING),,mkdir -p $(dir $@))
 	$(qexec)$(AS) $(ASFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
 .PRECIOUS: %.c.S
 %.c.S: CFLAGS += -DINLINE_ASM
 $(BUILD_PFX)%.c.S: %.c
 	$(if $(quiet),@echo "    [GEN] $@")
+	$(qexec)$(if $(CONFIG_DEPENDENCY_TRACKING),,mkdir -p $(dir $@))
 	$(qexec)$(CC) -S $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
 .PRECIOUS: %.asm.s
@@ -332,9 +338,11 @@ endif
 skip_deps := $(filter %clean,$(MAKECMDGOALS))
 skip_deps += $(findstring testdata,$(MAKECMDGOALS))
 ifeq ($(strip $(skip_deps)),)
-  # Older versions of make don't like -include directives with no arguments
-  ifneq ($(filter %.d,$(OBJS-yes:.o=.d)),)
-    -include $(filter %.d,$(OBJS-yes:.o=.d))
+  ifeq ($(CONFIG_DEPENDENCY_TRACKING),yes)
+    # Older versions of make don't like -include directives with no arguments
+    ifneq ($(filter %.d,$(OBJS-yes:.o=.d)),)
+      -include $(filter %.d,$(OBJS-yes:.o=.d))
+    endif
   endif
 endif
 
diff --git a/build/make/configure.sh b/build/make/configure.sh
index 723509103..25c9f8014 100644
--- a/build/make/configure.sh
+++ b/build/make/configure.sh
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ Build options:
   ${toggle_gprof}             enable/disable gprof profiling instrumentation
   ${toggle_gcov}              enable/disable gcov coverage instrumentation
   ${toggle_thumb}             enable/disable building arm assembly in thumb mode
+  ${toggle_dependency_tracking}
+                              disable to speed up one-time build
 
 Install options:
   ${toggle_install_docs}      control whether docs are installed
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 88df374b8..f3708f9d0 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -209,6 +209,7 @@ enable_feature install_libs
 
 enable_feature static
 enable_feature optimizations
+enable_feature dependency_tracking
 enable_feature fast_unaligned #allow unaligned accesses, if supported by hw
 enable_feature spatial_resampling
 enable_feature multithread
@@ -286,6 +287,7 @@ EXPERIMENT_LIST="
     emulate_hardware
 "
 CONFIG_LIST="
+    dependency_tracking
     external_build
     install_docs
     install_bins
@@ -344,6 +346,7 @@ CONFIG_LIST="
     ${EXPERIMENT_LIST}
 "
 CMDLINE_SELECT="
+    dependency_tracking
     external_build
     extra_warnings
     werror
diff --git a/examples.mk b/examples.mk
index fd67a44df..4ff1de4ee 100644
--- a/examples.mk
+++ b/examples.mk
@@ -338,6 +338,7 @@ $(foreach proj,$(call enabled,PROJECTS),\
 #
 %.dox: %.c
 	@echo "    [DOXY] $@"
+	@mkdir -p $(dir $@)
 	@echo "/*!\page example_$(@F:.dox=) $(@F:.dox=)" > $@
 	@echo "   \includelineno $(<F)" >> $@
 	@echo "*/" >> $@
diff --git a/libs.mk b/libs.mk
index 38b4b1112..4aee94e53 100644
--- a/libs.mk
+++ b/libs.mk
@@ -489,7 +489,11 @@ libs.doxy: $(CODEC_DOC_SRCS)
 	@echo "ENABLED_SECTIONS += $(sort $(CODEC_DOC_SECTIONS))" >> $@
 
 ## Generate rtcd.h for all objects
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_DEPENDENCY_TRACKING),yes)
 $(OBJS-yes:.o=.d): $(RTCD)
+else
+$(OBJS-yes): $(RTCD)
+endif
 
 ## Update the global src list
 SRCS += $(CODEC_SRCS) $(LIBVPX_TEST_SRCS) $(GTEST_SRCS)