diff --git a/message.mk b/message.mk
index 7c832b29271..f5fb751ed8d 100644
--- a/message.mk
+++ b/message.mk
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ ifeq ($(COLOR),true)
 	BOLD=\033[1m
 endif
 
-ifneq ($(shell awk --version 2>/dev/null),)
+ifneq ($(shell echo "1 2 3" | awk '{ printf "%2s", $$3; }' 2>/dev/null)," 3")
 	AWK=awk
 else
 	AWK=cat && test