diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.build b/scripts/Makefile.build
index a8e7ba9..6835f98 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.build
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.build
@@ -529,18 +529,16 @@
 # 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)
 
 ifneq ($(KBUILD_SRC),)
 # Create directories for object files if they do not exist
 obj-dirs := $(sort $(obj) $(patsubst %/,%, $(dir $(targets))))
-# If cmd_files exist, their directories apparently exist.  Skip mkdir.
-exist-dirs := $(sort $(patsubst %/,%, $(dir $(cmd_files))))
-obj-dirs := $(strip $(filter-out $(exist-dirs), $(obj-dirs)))
+# If targets exist, their directories apparently exist. Skip mkdir.
+existing-dirs := $(sort $(patsubst %/,%, $(dir $(existing-targets))))
+obj-dirs := $(strip $(filter-out $(existing-dirs), $(obj-dirs)))
 ifneq ($(obj-dirs),)
 $(shell mkdir -p $(obj-dirs))
 endif