diff --git a/bin/tests/system/Makefile.in b/bin/tests/system/Makefile.in
index 50e850530d..4b780c84a2 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/Makefile.in
+++ b/bin/tests/system/Makefile.in
@@ -60,13 +60,13 @@ parallel.mk:
 	for directory in $(PARALLEL) ; do \
 		echo "" >> $@ ; \
 		echo "$$directory:" >> $@ ; \
-		echo "	@$(SHELL) ./run.sh -r -p $$port $$directory | tee $$directory/test.output" >> $@ ; \
+		echo "	@$(SHELL) ./run.sh -r -p $$port $$directory 2>&1 | tee $$directory/test.output" >> $@ ; \
 		port=`expr $$port + 100` ; \
 	done
 
 # Targets to run the tests.
 
-test: parallel.mk
+test: parallel.mk subdirs
 	@$(MAKE) -f parallel.mk check
 	@$(SHELL) ./runsequential.sh -r
 	@$(SHELL) ./testsummary.sh
@@ -75,10 +75,9 @@ check: test
 
 # Other targets:
 #
-# testclean - delete files generated by running tests
-# clean - As for testclean, but also delete files built for the tests by "make"
-# distclean - As for clean, but also delete test-related files generated by
-#        "configure"
+# testclean - delete files generated by running tests.
+# clean     - testclean + also delete files built for the tests by "make".
+# distclean - clean + also delete test-related files generated by "configure".
 
 testclean clean distclean::
 	if test -f ./cleanall.sh; then $(SHELL) ./cleanall.sh; fi