diff --git a/dist/tools/setsid/Makefile b/dist/tools/setsid/Makefile
index ef40543033..8b7e126c7d 100644
--- a/dist/tools/setsid/Makefile
+++ b/dist/tools/setsid/Makefile
@@ -2,16 +2,21 @@ PKG_NAME     = setsid
 PKG_URL      = https://github.com/tzvetkoff/setsid-macosx
 PKG_VERSION  = e5b851df41591021baf5cf88d4e41572baf8e08b
 PKG_LICENSE  = BSD-2-Clause
-PKG_BUILDDIR = $(CURDIR)/bin
+
+# manually set some RIOT env vars, so this Makefile can be called stand-alone
+RIOTBASE ?= $(CURDIR)/../../..
+RIOTTOOLS ?= $(CURDIR)/..
 
 PKG_SOURCE_DIR = $(CURDIR)/bin
 PKG_BUILD_OUT_OF_SOURCE = 0
 include $(RIOTBASE)/pkg/pkg.mk
 
-all:
+all: $(CURDIR)/setsid
+
+$(CURDIR)/setsid:
 	@echo "[INFO] compiling setsid from source now"
-	$(MAKE) BINDIR=$(PKG_BUILDDIR) -C $(PKG_SOURCE_DIR)
+	$(MAKE) BINDIR=$(PKG_BUILD_DIR) -C $(PKG_SOURCE_DIR)
 	@mv $(PKG_SOURCE_DIR)/setsid $(CURDIR)/setsid
 
-distclean::
-	@rm -f $(CURDIR)/setsid
+clean::
+	rm -f $(CURDIR)/setsid