diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8cd6e853f3..48ea93b9fc 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2780,8 +2780,7 @@ $(SP_OBJ): %.sp: %.c GIT-CFLAGS FORCE
 .PHONY: sparse $(SP_OBJ)
 sparse: $(SP_OBJ)
 
-GEN_HDRS := command-list.h unicode-width.h
-EXCEPT_HDRS := $(GEN_HDRS) compat/% xdiff/%
+EXCEPT_HDRS := command-list.h unicode-width.h compat/% xdiff/%
 ifndef GCRYPT_SHA256
 	EXCEPT_HDRS += sha256/gcrypt.h
 endif
@@ -3106,7 +3105,7 @@ clean: profile-clean coverage-clean cocciclean
 	$(RM) $(HCC)
 	$(RM) -r bin-wrappers $(dep_dirs)
 	$(RM) -r po/build/
-	$(RM) *.pyc *.pyo */*.pyc */*.pyo command-list.h $(ETAGS_TARGET) tags cscope*
+	$(RM) *.pyc *.pyo */*.pyc */*.pyo $(GENERATED_H) $(ETAGS_TARGET) tags cscope*
 	$(RM) -r $(GIT_TARNAME) .doc-tmp-dir
 	$(RM) $(GIT_TARNAME).tar.gz git-core_$(GIT_VERSION)-*.tar.gz
 	$(RM) $(htmldocs).tar.gz $(manpages).tar.gz