diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile b/tools/perf/Makefile
index 6aef6d0..a84021a 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@
 
 $(OUTPUT)PERF-VERSION-FILE: .FORCE-PERF-VERSION-FILE
 	@$(SHELL_PATH) util/PERF-VERSION-GEN $(OUTPUT)
--include $(OUTPUT)PERF-VERSION-FILE
 
 uname_M := $(shell uname -m 2>/dev/null || echo not)
 
@@ -887,7 +886,7 @@
 	$(STRIP) $(STRIP_OPTS) $(PROGRAMS) $(OUTPUT)perf
 
 $(OUTPUT)perf.o: perf.c $(OUTPUT)common-cmds.h $(OUTPUT)PERF-CFLAGS
-	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) -DPERF_VERSION='"$(PERF_VERSION)"' \
+	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) -include $(OUTPUT)PERF-VERSION-FILE \
 		'-DPERF_HTML_PATH="$(htmldir_SQ)"' \
 		$(ALL_CFLAGS) -c $(filter %.c,$^) -o $@