diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 062745f3ba3f98ad4af94323c0e511835c7fa0b9..9372742f86fb7999ed2c59f474c70940e66d2dec 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ DTC_CPPFLAGS=-I$(BUILD_DIR)/dtc -I$(SRC_PATH)/dtc -I$(SRC_PATH)/dtc/libfdt
 subdir-dtc: .git-submodule-status dtc/libfdt dtc/tests
 	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) $(DTC_MAKE_ARGS) CPPFLAGS="$(DTC_CPPFLAGS)" CFLAGS="$(DTC_CFLAGS)" LDFLAGS="$(LDFLAGS)" ARFLAGS="$(ARFLAGS)" CC="$(CC)" AR="$(AR)" LD="$(LD)" $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) libfdt/libfdt.a,)
 
-dtc/%:
+dtc/%: .git-submodule-status
 	mkdir -p $@
 
 $(SUBDIR_RULES): libqemuutil.a $(common-obj-y) $(chardev-obj-y) \