diff --git a/support/misc/utils.mk b/support/misc/utils.mk
index b422c67d76..2f00ccfdb7 100644
--- a/support/misc/utils.mk
+++ b/support/misc/utils.mk
@@ -14,6 +14,20 @@ comma := ,
 empty :=
 space := $(empty) $(empty)
 
+# make 4.3:
+# https://lwn.net/Articles/810071/
+# Number signs (#) appearing inside a macro reference or function invocation
+#   no longer introduce comments and should not be escaped with backslashes:
+#   thus a call such as:
+#     foo := $(shell echo '#')
+#   is legal.  Previously the number sign needed to be escaped, for example:
+#     foo := $(shell echo '\#')
+#   Now this latter will resolve to "\#".  If you want to write makefiles
+#   portable to both versions, assign the number sign to a variable:
+#     H := \#
+#     foo := $(shell echo '$H')
+SHARP_SIGN := \#
+
 # Case conversion macros. This is inspired by the 'up' macro from gmsl
 # (http://gmsl.sf.net). It is optimised very heavily because these macros
 # are used a lot. It is about 5 times faster than forking a shell and tr.
diff --git a/toolchain/helpers.mk b/toolchain/helpers.mk
index 2c2a987c3e..44d0c83d1e 100644
--- a/toolchain/helpers.mk
+++ b/toolchain/helpers.mk
@@ -119,12 +119,12 @@ copy_toolchain_sysroot = \
 	done ; \
 	for link in $$(find $(STAGING_DIR) -type l); do \
 		target=$$(readlink $${link}) ; \
-		if [ "$${target}" == "$${target\#/}" ] ; then \
+		if [ "$${target}" == "$${target$(SHARP_SIGN)/}" ] ; then \
 			continue ; \
 		fi ; \
-		relpath="$(call relpath_prefix,$${target\#/})" ; \
-		echo "Fixing symlink $${link} from $${target} to $${relpath}$${target\#/}" ; \
-		ln -sf $${relpath}$${target\#/} $${link} ; \
+		relpath="$(call relpath_prefix,$${target$(SHARP_SIGN)/})" ; \
+		echo "Fixing symlink $${link} from $${target} to $${relpath}$${target$(SHARP_SIGN)/}" ; \
+		ln -sf $${relpath}$${target$(SHARP_SIGN)/} $${link} ; \
 	done ; \
 	relpath="$(call relpath_prefix,$${ARCH_LIB_DIR})" ; \
 	if [ "$${relpath}" != "" ]; then \