diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.modpost b/scripts/Makefile.modpost
index 6b19c1a4eae5..ad4b9829a456 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.modpost
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.modpost
@@ -145,10 +145,8 @@ FORCE:
 # optimization, we don't need to read them if the target does not
 # exist, we will rebuild anyway in that case.
 
-cmd_files := $(wildcard $(foreach f,$(sort $(targets)),$(dir $(f)).$(notdir $(f)).cmd))
+existing-targets := $(wildcard $(sort $(targets)))
 
-ifneq ($(cmd_files),)
-  include $(cmd_files)
-endif
+-include $(foreach f,$(existing-targets),$(dir $(f)).$(notdir $(f)).cmd)
 
 .PHONY: $(PHONY)