-ifneq ($(words $(subst :, ,$(CURDIR))), 1)
- $(error main directory cannot contain spaces nor colons)
+ifneq ($(KBUILD_OUTPUT),)
+# Make's built-in functions such as $(abspath ...), $(realpath ...) cannot
+# expand a shell special character '~'. We use a somewhat tedious way here.
+abs_objtree := $(shell mkdir -p $(KBUILD_OUTPUT) && cd $(KBUILD_OUTPUT) && pwd)
+$(if $(abs_objtree),, \
+ $(error failed to create output directory "$(KBUILD_OUTPUT)"))
+
+# $(realpath ...) resolves symlinks
+abs_objtree := $(realpath $(abs_objtree))
+else
+abs_objtree := $(CURDIR)
+endif # ifneq ($(KBUILD_OUTPUT),)
+
+ifeq ($(abs_objtree),$(CURDIR))
+# Suppress "Entering directory ..." unless we are changing the work directory.
+MAKEFLAGS += --no-print-directory
+else
+need-sub-make := 1