diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 861d9d48c7df..d4ac3cb9256c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1043,6 +1043,8 @@ ifdef CONFIG_GDB_SCRIPTS
 endif
 	+$(call if_changed,link-vmlinux)
 
+targets := vmlinux
+
 # Build samples along the rest of the kernel. This needs headers_install.
 ifdef CONFIG_SAMPLES
 vmlinux-dirs += samples
@@ -1758,13 +1760,12 @@ quiet_cmd_depmod = DEPMOD  $(KERNELRELEASE)
 cmd_crmodverdir = $(Q)mkdir -p $(MODVERDIR) \
                   $(if $(KBUILD_MODULES),; rm -f $(MODVERDIR)/*)
 
-# read all saved command lines
-cmd_files := $(wildcard .*.cmd)
+# read saved command lines for existing targets
+existing-targets := $(wildcard $(sort $(targets)))
 
-ifneq ($(cmd_files),)
-  $(cmd_files): ;	# Do not try to update included dependency files
-  include $(cmd_files)
-endif
+cmd_files := $(foreach f,$(existing-targets),$(dir $(f)).$(notdir $(f)).cmd)
+$(cmd_files): ;	# Do not try to update included dependency files
+-include $(cmd_files)
 
 endif   # ifeq ($(config-targets),1)
 endif   # ifeq ($(mixed-targets),1)
diff --git a/scripts/Kbuild.include b/scripts/Kbuild.include
index bb015551c2d9..6cf6a8b83b97 100644
--- a/scripts/Kbuild.include
+++ b/scripts/Kbuild.include
@@ -264,9 +264,8 @@ ifndef CONFIG_TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS
 
 cmd_and_fixdep =                                                             \
 	$(echo-cmd) $(cmd_$(1));                                             \
-	scripts/basic/fixdep $(depfile) $@ '$(make-cmd)' > $(dot-target).tmp;\
-	rm -f $(depfile);                                                    \
-	mv -f $(dot-target).tmp $(dot-target).cmd;
+	scripts/basic/fixdep $(depfile) $@ '$(make-cmd)' > $(dot-target).cmd;\
+	rm -f $(depfile);
 
 else
 
@@ -289,9 +288,8 @@ cmd_and_fixdep =                                                             \
 	$(echo-cmd) $(cmd_$(1));                                             \
 	$(ksym_dep_filter) |                                                 \
 		scripts/basic/fixdep -e $(depfile) $@ '$(make-cmd)'          \
-			> $(dot-target).tmp;	                             \
-	rm -f $(depfile);                                                    \
-	mv -f $(dot-target).tmp $(dot-target).cmd;
+			> $(dot-target).cmd;	                             \
+	rm -f $(depfile);
 
 endif
 
diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.build b/scripts/Makefile.build
index a8e7ba9f73e8..6835f98e2070 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.build
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.build
@@ -529,18 +529,16 @@ 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)
 
 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