diff --git a/scripts/mkmakefile b/scripts/mkmakefile
index 9ad1bd793252ff4241e99813b3c179afc99e9363..e0f54b9d8feca95bf693ec7cc9ad294bd70ab1df 100644
--- a/scripts/mkmakefile
+++ b/scripts/mkmakefile
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 test ! -r $2/Makefile -o -O $2/Makefile || exit 0
 # Only overwrite automatically generated Makefiles
 # (so we do not overwrite kernel Makefile)
-if ! grep -q Automatically $2/Makefile
+if test -e $2/Makefile && ! grep -q Automatically $2/Makefile
 then
 	exit 0
 fi