diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5435d11d8276..f8b70cf80d79 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1066,9 +1066,12 @@ endif
 
 autoksyms_h := $(if $(CONFIG_TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS), include/generated/autoksyms.h)
 
+quiet_cmd_autoksyms_h = GEN     $@
+      cmd_autoksyms_h = mkdir -p $(dir $@); \
+			$(CONFIG_SHELL) $(srctree)/scripts/gen_autoksyms.sh $@
+
 $(autoksyms_h):
-	$(Q)mkdir -p $(dir $@)
-	$(Q)touch $@
+	$(call cmd,autoksyms_h)
 
 ARCH_POSTLINK := $(wildcard $(srctree)/arch/$(SRCARCH)/Makefile.postlink)
 
diff --git a/scripts/gen_autoksyms.sh b/scripts/gen_autoksyms.sh
index ef46200c366b..16c0b2ddaa4c 100755
--- a/scripts/gen_autoksyms.sh
+++ b/scripts/gen_autoksyms.sh
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ cat > "$output_file" << EOT
 
 EOT
 
-sed 's/ko$/mod/' modules.order |
+[ -f modules.order ] && modlist=modules.order || modlist=/dev/null
+sed 's/ko$/mod/' $modlist |
 xargs -n1 sed -n -e '2{s/ /\n/g;/^$/!p;}' -- |
 cat - "$ksym_wl" |
 sort -u |