diff --git a/toolchain/toolchain-external/pkg-toolchain-external.mk b/toolchain/toolchain-external/pkg-toolchain-external.mk
index 23cdf30b9f..dc0588c536 100644
--- a/toolchain/toolchain-external/pkg-toolchain-external.mk
+++ b/toolchain/toolchain-external/pkg-toolchain-external.mk
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ endif
 ifeq ($(TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_INSTALL_DIR),)
 ifneq ($(TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_PREFIX),)
 # if no path set, figure it out from path
-TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_BIN := $(shell dirname $(shell which $(TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_PREFIX)-gcc))
+TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_BIN := $(dir $(shell which $(TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_PREFIX)-gcc))
 endif
 else
 TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_BIN := $(TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_INSTALL_DIR)/bin