diff --git a/package/base-files/files/etc/functions.sh b/package/base-files/files/etc/functions.sh
index eb7faac1fe..a788c4cc4e 100755
--- a/package/base-files/files/etc/functions.sh
+++ b/package/base-files/files/etc/functions.sh
@@ -2,8 +2,13 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2006 OpenWrt.org
 # Copyright (C) 2006 Fokus Fraunhofer <carsten.tittel@fokus.fraunhofer.de>
 
-alias debug=${DEBUG:-:}
-alias mount='busybox mount'
+
+debug () {
+	${DEBUG:-:}
+}
+mount() {
+	busybox mount
+}
 
 # newline
 N="