diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 252a659896f3..31bbc6ab3b8a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ export KBUILD_DEFCONFIG
 config %config: scripts_basic outputmakefile FORCE
 	$(Q)mkdir -p include/linux
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(build)=scripts/kconfig $@
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) .kernelrelease
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) -C $(srctree) KBUILD_SRC= .kernelrelease
 
 else
 # ===========================================================================