diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4976fd9119e..94e2c582f51 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ objfiles.txt
 *.gcov.out
 lcov.info
 coverage/
+coverage-html-stamp
 *.vcproj
 *.vcxproj
 win32ver.rc
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/regress.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/regress.sgml
index 7c2b1029c2b..14747e5f3b5 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/regress.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/regress.sgml
@@ -706,6 +706,19 @@ make coverage-html
     The <command>make</command> commands also work in subdirectories.
    </para>
 
+   <para>
+    If you don't have <command>lcov</command> or prefer text output over an
+    HTML report, you can also run
+<screen>
+make coverage
+</screen>
+    instead of <literal>make coverage-html</literal>, which will
+    produce <filename>.gcov</filename> output files for each source file
+    relevant to the test.  (<literal>make coverage</literal> and <literal>make
+    coverage-html</literal> will overwrite each other's files, so mixing them
+    might be confusing.)
+   </para>
+
    <para>
     To reset the execution counts between test runs, run:
 <screen>
diff --git a/src/Makefile.global.in b/src/Makefile.global.in
index fae8068150d..f352ba20e20 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.global.in
+++ b/src/Makefile.global.in
@@ -874,25 +874,29 @@ endif # enable_nls
 
 ifeq ($(enable_coverage), yes)
 
-# There is a strange interaction between lcov and existing .gcov
-# output files.  Hence the rm command and the ordering dependency.
+# make coverage -- text output
 
-gcda_files := $(wildcard *.gcda)
+local_gcda_files = $(wildcard *.gcda)
 
-lcov.info: $(gcda_files)
-	rm -f *.gcov .*.gcov
-	$(if $^,$(LCOV) -d . -c -o $@ $(LCOVFLAGS) --gcov-tool $(GCOV))
+coverage: $(local_gcda_files:.gcda=.c.gcov)
 
-%.c.gcov: %.gcda | lcov.info
+%.c.gcov: %.gcda
 	$(GCOV) -b -f -p -o . $(GCOVFLAGS) $*.c >$*.c.gcov.out
 
-coverage: $(gcda_files:.gcda=.c.gcov) lcov.info
+# make coverage-html -- HTML output via lcov
 
 .PHONY: coverage-html
-coverage-html: coverage
+coverage-html: coverage-html-stamp
+
+coverage-html-stamp: lcov.info
 	rm -rf coverage
-	mkdir coverage
-	$(GENHTML) --show-details --legend --output-directory=coverage --title=PostgreSQL --num-spaces=4 --prefix=$(abs_top_srcdir) `find . -name lcov.info -print`
+	$(GENHTML) --show-details --legend --output-directory=coverage --title=PostgreSQL --num-spaces=4 --prefix=$(abs_top_srcdir) $<
+	touch $@
+
+all_gcda_files = $(shell find . -name '*.gcda' -print)
+
+lcov.info: $(all_gcda_files)
+	$(LCOV) -d . -c -o $@ $(LCOVFLAGS) --gcov-tool $(GCOV)
 
 
 # hook for clean-up
@@ -900,7 +904,7 @@ clean distclean maintainer-clean: clean-coverage
 
 .PHONY: clean-coverage
 clean-coverage:
-	rm -rf coverage
+	rm -rf coverage coverage-html-stamp
 	rm -f *.gcda *.gcno lcov.info *.gcov .*.gcov *.gcov.out