diff --git a/core/Makefile b/core/Makefile
index 99f7b4ad7..173353dc0 100644
--- a/core/Makefile
+++ b/core/Makefile
@@ -872,7 +872,7 @@ define build-recoveryimage-target
   $(hide) mkdir -p $(TARGET_RECOVERY_OUT)
   $(hide) mkdir -p $(TARGET_RECOVERY_ROOT_OUT)/etc $(TARGET_RECOVERY_ROOT_OUT)/tmp
   @echo Copying baseline ramdisk...
-  $(hide) rsync -a $(TARGET_ROOT_OUT) $(TARGET_RECOVERY_OUT) # "cp -Rf" fails to overwrite broken symlinks on Mac.
+  $(hide) rsync -a --exclude=etc $(TARGET_ROOT_OUT) $(TARGET_RECOVERY_OUT) # "cp -Rf" fails to overwrite broken symlinks on Mac.
   @echo Modifying ramdisk contents...
   $(hide) rm -f $(TARGET_RECOVERY_ROOT_OUT)/init*.rc
   $(hide) cp -f $(recovery_initrc) $(TARGET_RECOVERY_ROOT_OUT)/