diff --git a/examples/standalone/Makefile b/examples/standalone/Makefile
index 5e2f2bcaeb45628ef88100faa1d8b351243f3620..6ea3b93db10c0d24e33f308a185cf905cd1d99ab 100644
--- a/examples/standalone/Makefile
+++ b/examples/standalone/Makefile
@@ -38,7 +38,13 @@ ELF-mpc8260                      += mem_to_mem_idma2intr
 ELF-ppc                          += sched
 ELF-oxc                          += eepro100_eeprom
 
-ELF := $(ELF-y) $(ELF-$(ARCH)) $(ELF-$(BOARD)) $(ELF-$(CPU))
+#
+# Some versions of make do not handle trailing white spaces properly;
+# leading to build failures. The problem was found with GNU Make 3.80.
+# Using 'strip' as a workaround for the problem.
+#
+ELF := $(strip $(ELF-y) $(ELF-$(ARCH)) $(ELF-$(BOARD)) $(ELF-$(CPU)))
+
 SREC = $(addsuffix .srec,$(ELF))
 BIN  = $(addsuffix .bin,$(ELF))