diff --git a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/Makefile.am b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/Makefile.am
index a09588c9..7f8d5ff0 100644
--- a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/Makefile.am
+++ b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/Makefile.am
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ langs2 =			\
 
 langs1 =			\
 	ada.lang		\
-	automake.lang		\
 	changelog.lang		\
 	check.sh		\
 	csharp.lang		\
diff --git a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/c.lang b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/c.lang
index f24f9d61..30b5d21c 100644
--- a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/c.lang
+++ b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/c.lang
@@ -20,12 +20,10 @@
             <include>
 
                 <!-- Comments -->
-                <context id="comment" style-ref="comment">
+                <context id="comment" style-ref="comment" end-at-line-end="true">
                     <start>\/\/</start>
-                    <end>$</end>
                     <include>
-                        <context ref="def:line-continue"/>
-                        <context ref="def:comment:*"/>
+                      <context ref="def:line-comment"/>
                     </include>
                 </context>
 
diff --git a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/check.sh b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/check.sh
index c869d5a7..c311763b 100755
--- a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/check.sh
+++ b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/check.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # "./check.sh" without arguments will validate lang and styles files
 # specified here.
 
-langs="automake.lang c.lang cpp.lang changelog.lang def.lang \
+langs="c.lang cpp.lang changelog.lang def.lang \
        html.lang javascript.lang latex.lang makefile.lang \
        xml.lang yacc.lang"
 
diff --git a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/def.lang b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/def.lang
index d8e03c63..0ac1ce5f 100644
--- a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/def.lang
+++ b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/def.lang
@@ -107,6 +107,23 @@
             <end>^</end>
         </context>
 
+        <!-- this is intended to be used from line comments starting not with #,
+             see shell-like-comment below -->
+        <context id="line-comment">
+          <include>
+            <context ref="line-continue" ignore-style="true"/>
+            <context ref="comment:*"/>
+          </include>
+        </context>
+
+        <!-- A line comment starting with #, with \ as escape-new-line char -->
+        <context id="shell-like-comment" style-ref="comment" end-at-line-end="true">
+          <start>#</start>
+          <include>
+            <context ref="line-comment"/>
+          </include>
+        </context>
+
         <context id="shebang" style-ref="shebang" first-line-only="true">
             <start>^#!</start>
             <end>$</end>
diff --git a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/kde.styles b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/kde.styles
index fa4c1184..ebae28c7 100644
--- a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/kde.styles
+++ b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/kde.styles
@@ -43,4 +43,6 @@
   <style name="latex:command" foreground="#008000"/>
 
   <style name="changelog:release" foreground="#0095ff" bold="true"/>
+
+  <style name="makefile:trailing-tab" background="pink"/>
 </style-scheme>
diff --git a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/makefile.lang b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/makefile.lang
index 8e18f6ad..916b720b 100644
--- a/moo/mooedit/language-specs/makefile.lang
+++ b/moo/mooedit/language-specs/makefile.lang
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@
 <language id="makefile" _name="Makefile" version="2.0" _section="Sources"
           mimetypes="text/x-makefile" globs="Makefile*">
   <styles>
-    <style id="comment"   name="Comment" map-to="def:comment"/>
-    <style id="function"  name="Function" map-to="def:function"/>
-    <style id="string"    name="String" map-to="def:string"/>
-    <style id="keyword"   name="Keyword" map-to="def:keyword"/>
-    <style id="variable"  name="Variable" map-to="def:data-type"/>
-    <style id="target"    name="Target" map-to="def:function"/>
+    <style id="comment"       name="Comment" map-to="def:comment"/>
+    <style id="function"      name="Function" map-to="def:function"/>
+    <style id="string"        name="String" map-to="def:string"/>
+    <style id="keyword"       name="Keyword" map-to="def:keyword"/>
+    <style id="variable"      name="Variable" map-to="def:data-type"/>
+    <style id="target"        name="Target" map-to="def:function"/>
+    <style id="trailing-tab"  name="Trailing Tab"/>
   </styles>
 
   <definitions>
@@ -23,15 +24,7 @@
     <context id="makefile">
       <include>
         <context ref="def:shebang"/>
-
-        <context id="line-comment" style-ref="comment" end-at-line-end="true">
-          <start>#</start>
-          <include>
-            <context ref="def:line-continue"/>
-            <context ref="def:comment:*"/>
-          </include>
-        </context>
-
+        <context ref="def:shell-like-comment"/>
         <context ref="def:string"/>
         <context ref="def:single-quoted-string"/>
 
@@ -54,21 +47,27 @@
         </context>
 
         <context id="targets">
-          <match>^\s*([^\s]+)\s*\:</match>
+          <match>^([^\t\:][^\:]*)\:</match>
           <include>
             <context sub-pattern="1" style-ref="target"/>
           </include>
         </context>
 
+        <context id="trailing-tab" style-ref="trailing-tab">
+          <match>^\t+$</match>
+        </context>
+
         <context id="directives" style-ref="keyword">
           <keyword>define</keyword>
           <keyword>else</keyword>
           <keyword>endef</keyword>
           <keyword>endif</keyword>
+          <keyword>if</keyword>
           <keyword>ifdef</keyword>
           <keyword>ifeq</keyword>
           <keyword>ifndef</keyword>
           <keyword>ifneq</keyword>
+          <keyword>include</keyword>
           <keyword>override</keyword>
           <keyword>unexport</keyword>
         </context>