diff --git a/mk/bsd.pkg.mk b/mk/bsd.pkg.mk
index 3bf6552450d2..f22ac6a9b075 100644
--- a/mk/bsd.pkg.mk
+++ b/mk/bsd.pkg.mk
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#	$NetBSD: bsd.pkg.mk,v 1.1888 2006/10/15 16:20:34 joerg Exp $
+#	$NetBSD: bsd.pkg.mk,v 1.1889 2006/10/22 06:50:49 rillig Exp $
 #
 # This file is in the public domain.
 #
@@ -267,6 +267,13 @@ _PKG_DEBUG=		set -x;
 _PKG_DEBUG_SCRIPT=	${SH} -x
 .endif
 
+# This variable can be prepended to all shell commands that should not
+# be printed by default, but when PKGSRC_DEBUG_LEVEL is non-zero.
+# It also re-adds the error checking that has been removed in 2004 to
+# make bmake conform to POSIX.
+#
+RUN=			${_PKG_SILENT}${_PKG_DEBUG} set -e;
+
 # A few aliases for *-install targets
 INSTALL=		${TOOLS_INSTALL}	# XXX override sys.mk
 INSTALL_PROGRAM?= 	\