diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 384c872ab..a73a1aaf4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,30 @@ ifndef system
 $(error unbound variable: system)
 endif
 
+# target = [target_user@]target_host[:target_port][/target_path]
+ifdef target
+_target_user != echo $(target) | sed -n 's/@.*//p'
+_target_path != echo $(target) | sed -n 's/^[^/]*//p'
+_target_port != echo $(target) | sed -En 's|^.*:([^/]*)(/.*)?$$|\1|p'
+_target_host != echo $(target) | sed -En 's/^(.*@)?([^:/]*).*/\2/p'
+ifneq ($(_target_host),)
+$(if $(target_host),$(error cannot define both, target_host and host in target))
+target_host ?= $(_target_host)
+endif
+ifneq ($(_target_user),)
+$(if $(target_user),$(error cannot define both, target_user and user in target))
+target_user ?= $(_target_user)
+endif
+ifneq ($(_target_port),)
+$(if $(target_port),$(error cannot define both, target_port and port in target))
+target_port ?= $(_target_port)
+endif
+ifneq ($(_target_path),)
+$(if $(target_path),$(error cannot define both, target_path and path in target))
+target_path ?= $(_target_path)
+endif
+endif
+
 export target_host ?= $(system)
 export target_user ?= root
 export target_port ?= 22