diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 6a3359f960..2e6534e1a6 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -29103,7 +29103,8 @@ $as_echo "$as_me: WARNING: wxGLCanvas not implemented for this port, library wil
 
         $as_echo "#define wxUSE_GLCANVAS 1" >>confdefs.h
 
-        SAMPLES_SUBDIRS="$SAMPLES_SUBDIRS opengl opengl/cube opengl/penguin opengl/isosurf opengl/pyramid"
+        SAMPLES_SUBDIRS="$SAMPLES_SUBDIRS opengl/cube opengl/penguin opengl/isosurf opengl/pyramid"
+        SAMPLES_SUBTREES="$SAMPLES_SUBTREES opengl"
     fi
 fi
 
@@ -37119,7 +37120,8 @@ if test "$wxUSE_HTML" = "yes"; then
     $as_echo "#define wxUSE_HTML 1" >>confdefs.h
 
     USE_HTML=1
-    SAMPLES_SUBDIRS="$SAMPLES_SUBDIRS html html/about html/help html/helpview html/printing html/test html/virtual html/widget html/zip htlbox"
+    SAMPLES_SUBDIRS="$SAMPLES_SUBDIRS html/about html/help html/helpview html/printing html/test html/virtual html/widget html/zip htlbox"
+    SAMPLES_SUBTREES="$SAMPLES_SUBTREES html"
 fi
 
 USE_XRC=0
@@ -41306,6 +41308,10 @@ for subdir in $SUBDIRS; do
                     if test -d $srcdir/samples/$sample; then
                         makefiles="samples/$sample/Makefile.in $makefiles"
                     fi
+                done
+
+                                                                                for subtree in $SAMPLES_SUBTREES; do
+                    makefiles="samples/$subtree/Makefile.in $makefiles"
                 done
             else
                                                                 disabled_var=DISABLED_`echo $subdir | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]'`
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 04b1ac38df..94135f8e44 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -3914,7 +3914,8 @@ if test "$wxUSE_OPENGL" = "yes" -o "$wxUSE_OPENGL" = "auto"; then
         USE_OPENGL=1
         AC_DEFINE(wxUSE_OPENGL)
         AC_DEFINE(wxUSE_GLCANVAS)
-        SAMPLES_SUBDIRS="$SAMPLES_SUBDIRS opengl opengl/cube opengl/penguin opengl/isosurf opengl/pyramid"
+        SAMPLES_SUBDIRS="$SAMPLES_SUBDIRS opengl/cube opengl/penguin opengl/isosurf opengl/pyramid"
+        SAMPLES_SUBTREES="$SAMPLES_SUBTREES opengl"
     fi
 fi
 
@@ -7391,7 +7392,8 @@ USE_HTML=0
 if test "$wxUSE_HTML" = "yes"; then
     AC_DEFINE(wxUSE_HTML)
     USE_HTML=1
-    SAMPLES_SUBDIRS="$SAMPLES_SUBDIRS html html/about html/help html/helpview html/printing html/test html/virtual html/widget html/zip htlbox"
+    SAMPLES_SUBDIRS="$SAMPLES_SUBDIRS html/about html/help html/helpview html/printing html/test html/virtual html/widget html/zip htlbox"
+    SAMPLES_SUBTREES="$SAMPLES_SUBTREES html"
 fi
 
 USE_XRC=0
@@ -8729,6 +8731,14 @@ for subdir in $SUBDIRS; do
                         makefiles="samples/$sample/Makefile.in $makefiles"
                     fi
                 done
+
+                dnl also create makefiles for the subdirectories containing
+                dnl other samples that are not added to SAMPLES_SUBDIRS because
+                dnl we don't want to recurse into them when building everything
+                dnl because we still want to allow building them explicitly
+                for subtree in $SAMPLES_SUBTREES; do
+                    makefiles="samples/$subtree/Makefile.in $makefiles"
+                done
             else
                 dnl assume that everything compiles for utils &c
                 dnl any that shouldn't be built can be added to