diff --git a/mk/spksrc.copy.mk b/mk/spksrc.copy.mk
index a35d01dc715..895188e3c5d 100644
--- a/mk/spksrc.copy.mk
+++ b/mk/spksrc.copy.mk
@@ -45,18 +45,17 @@ copy_target: SHELL:=/bin/bash
 copy_target: $(PRE_COPY_TARGET) $(INSTALL_PLIST)
 ifeq ($(call version_ge, ${TCVERSION}, 7.0),1)
 	@$(MSG) [DSM7+] Copy target to staging, discard var directory
-	@(mkdir -p $(STAGING_DIR) && cd $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX) && tar cpf - `cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | sed -e '/^.*:var\/.*/d' -e 's/^.*://g'`) | \
+	@(mkdir -p $(STAGING_DIR) && cd $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX) && tar cpf - $$(cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | sed -e '/^.*:var\/.*/d' -e 's/^.*://g')) | \
 	  tar xpf - -C $(STAGING_DIR)
 	@$(MSG) "[DSM7+] Copy and merge var and target/var to $(STAGING_DIR)/var"
-	@if [ "`cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | sed -n 's?^.*:var/??p'`" ] ; then \
+	@if [ "$$(cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | sed -n 's?^.*:var/??p')" ] ; then \
 	  mkdir -p $(STAGING_DIR)/var ; \
-	  (cd $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX)/../var && tar cpf - $$(eval ls -d $$(cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | sed -n 's?^.*:var/??p') 2>/dev/null)) | tar xpf - -C $(STAGING_DIR)/var ; \
-	  (cd $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX)/var && tar cpf - $$(eval ls -d $$(cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | sed -n 's?^.*:var/??p') 2>/dev/null)) | tar xpf - -C $(STAGING_DIR)/var ; \
+	  ([ -d $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX)/../var ] && (cd $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX)/../var && tar cpf - $$(eval ls -d $$(cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | sed -n 's?^.*:var/??p') 2>/dev/null)) | tar xpf - -C $(STAGING_DIR)/var) || true ; \
+	  ([ -d $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX)/var ] && (cd $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX)/var && tar cpf - $$(eval ls -d $$(cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | sed -n 's?^.*:var/??p') 2>/dev/null)) | tar xpf - -C $(STAGING_DIR)/var) || true ; \
 	fi
 else
 	@$(MSG) Copy target to staging [DSM6]
-	@(mkdir -p $(STAGING_DIR) && cd $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX) && tar cpf - `cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | cut -d':' -f2`) | \
-	  tar xpf - -C $(STAGING_DIR)
+	@(mkdir -p $(STAGING_DIR) && cd $(INSTALL_DIR)/$(INSTALL_PREFIX) && tar cpf - $$(cat $(INSTALL_PLIST) | cut -d':' -f2)) | tar xpf - -C $(STAGING_DIR)
 endif
 
 post_copy_target: $(COPY_TARGET)