diff --git a/core/config.mk b/core/config.mk
index 42f61489cb..cdc90e513b 100644
--- a/core/config.mk
+++ b/core/config.mk
@@ -129,11 +129,7 @@ BUILD_HOST_DALVIK_STATIC_JAVA_LIBRARY := $(BUILD_SYSTEM)/host_dalvik_static_java
 # Parse out any modifier targets.
 # ###############################################################
 
-# The 'showcommands' goal says to show the full command
-# lines being executed, instead of a short message about
-# the kind of operation being done.
-SHOW_COMMANDS:= $(filter showcommands,$(MAKECMDGOALS))
-hide := $(if $(SHOW_COMMANDS),,@)
+hide := @
 
 ################################################################
 # Tools needed in product configuration makefiles.
diff --git a/core/distdir.mk b/core/distdir.mk
index 51ec46efef..89c5966c03 100644
--- a/core/distdir.mk
+++ b/core/distdir.mk
@@ -17,16 +17,8 @@
 # When specifying "dist", the user has asked that we copy the important
 # files from this build into DIST_DIR.
 
-.PHONY: dist
-dist: ;
-
 dist_goal := $(strip $(filter dist,$(MAKECMDGOALS)))
 MAKECMDGOALS := $(strip $(filter-out dist,$(MAKECMDGOALS)))
-ifeq (,$(strip $(filter-out $(INTERNAL_MODIFIER_TARGETS),$(MAKECMDGOALS))))
-# The commandline was something like "make dist" or "make dist showcommands".
-# Add a dependency on a real target.
-dist: $(DEFAULT_GOAL)
-endif
 
 ifdef dist_goal
 
diff --git a/core/main.mk b/core/main.mk
index 1ca2b0ac72..62a9c5f2da 100644
--- a/core/main.mk
+++ b/core/main.mk
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ include $(BUILD_SYSTEM)/cleanbuild.mk
 # These are the modifier targets that don't do anything themselves, but
 # change the behavior of the build.
 # (must be defined before including definitions.make)
-INTERNAL_MODIFIER_TARGETS := showcommands all
+INTERNAL_MODIFIER_TARGETS := all
 
 # EMMA_INSTRUMENT_STATIC merges the static emma library to each emma-enabled module.
 ifeq (true,$(EMMA_INSTRUMENT_STATIC))
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ endef
 endif
 
 
-# If they only used the modifier goals (showcommands, etc), we'll actually
+# If they only used the modifier goals (all, etc), we'll actually
 # build the default target.
 ifeq ($(filter-out $(INTERNAL_MODIFIER_TARGETS),$(MAKECMDGOALS)),)
 .PHONY: $(INTERNAL_MODIFIER_TARGETS)
@@ -1127,10 +1127,6 @@ modules:
 	@echo "$(call module-names-for-tag-list,$(ALL_MODULE_TAGS))" | \
 	      tr -s ' ' '\n' | sort -u | $(COLUMN)
 
-.PHONY: showcommands
-showcommands:
-	@echo >/dev/null
-
 .PHONY: nothing
 nothing:
 	@echo Successfully read the makefiles.
diff --git a/core/ninja_config.mk b/core/ninja_config.mk
index f456b8b161..13b50a27bb 100644
--- a/core/ninja_config.mk
+++ b/core/ninja_config.mk
@@ -7,8 +7,7 @@ endif
 KATI_OUTPUT_PATTERNS := $(OUT_DIR)/build%.ninja $(OUT_DIR)/ninja%.sh
 
 # Modifier goals we don't need to pass to Ninja.
-NINJA_EXCLUDE_GOALS := showcommands all dist
-.PHONY : $(NINJA_EXCLUDE_GOALS)
+NINJA_EXCLUDE_GOALS := all dist
 
 # A list of goals which affect parsing of makefiles and we need to pass to Kati.
 PARSE_TIME_MAKE_GOALS := \
@@ -16,7 +15,6 @@ PARSE_TIME_MAKE_GOALS := \
 	$(dont_bother_goals) \
 	all \
 	APP-% \
-	DUMP_% \
 	ECLIPSE-% \
 	PRODUCT-% \
 	AUX-% \