diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0fcde48bec..357592ad39 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ configure: ;
 ifneq ($(wildcard config-host.mak),)
 include config-host.mak
 
+include Makefile.prereqs
+Makefile.prereqs: config-host.mak
+
 git-submodule-update:
 .git-submodule-status: git-submodule-update config-host.mak
 Makefile: .git-submodule-status
@@ -217,7 +220,7 @@ qemu-%.tar.bz2:
 
 distclean: clean recurse-distclean
 	-$(quiet-@)test -f build.ninja && $(NINJA) $(NINJAFLAGS) -t clean -g || :
-	rm -f config-host.mak qemu-bundle
+	rm -f config-host.mak Makefile.prereqs qemu-bundle
 	rm -f tests/tcg/config-*.mak
 	rm -f config.status
 	rm -f roms/seabios/config.mak
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 0255b127f5..a71e38d20a 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2154,6 +2154,7 @@ write_target_makefile() {
 }
 
 write_container_target_makefile() {
+  echo "$1: docker-image-$container_image" >> Makefile.prereqs
   echo "EXTRA_CFLAGS=$target_cflags"
   if test -n "$container_cross_cc"; then
     echo "CC=$docker_py cc --cc $container_cross_cc -i qemu/$container_image -s $source_path --"
@@ -2258,6 +2259,8 @@ for f in $LINKS ; do
     fi
 done
 
+echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > Makefile.prereqs
+
 # Mac OS X ships with a broken assembler
 roms=
 if test "$targetos" != "darwin" && test "$targetos" != "sunos" && \
@@ -2452,10 +2455,7 @@ if test "$safe_stack" = "yes"; then
 fi
 
 # tests/tcg configuration
-(makefile=tests/tcg/Makefile.prereqs
-echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $makefile
-
-config_host_mak=tests/tcg/config-host.mak
+(config_host_mak=tests/tcg/config-host.mak
 mkdir -p tests/tcg
 echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_host_mak
 echo "SRC_PATH=$source_path" >> $config_host_mak
@@ -2493,8 +2493,7 @@ for target in $target_list; do
       write_target_makefile >> "$config_target_mak"
   elif test -n "$container_image"; then
       build_static=y
-      echo "build-tcg-tests-$target: docker-image-$container_image" >> $makefile
-      write_container_target_makefile >> "$config_target_mak"
+      write_container_target_makefile build-tcg-tests-$target >> "$config_target_mak"
       got_cross_cc=yes
   fi
   if test $got_cross_cc = yes; then
@@ -2504,11 +2503,11 @@ for target in $target_list; do
       echo "TARGET=$target" >> "$config_target_mak"
       echo "QEMU=$PWD/$qemu" >> "$config_target_mak"
       echo "BUILD_STATIC=$build_static" >> "$config_target_mak"
-      echo "run-tcg-tests-$target: $qemu\$(EXESUF)" >> $makefile
+      echo "run-tcg-tests-$target: $qemu\$(EXESUF)" >> Makefile.prereqs
       tcg_tests_targets="$tcg_tests_targets $target"
   fi
 done
-echo "TCG_TESTS_TARGETS=$tcg_tests_targets" >> $makefile)
+echo "TCG_TESTS_TARGETS=$tcg_tests_targets" >> config-host.mak)
 
 if test "$skip_meson" = no; then
   cross="config-meson.cross.new"
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.include b/tests/Makefile.include
index 9ed67721e2..9422ddaece 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.include
+++ b/tests/Makefile.include
@@ -36,9 +36,6 @@ export SRC_PATH
 
 SPEED = quick
 
--include tests/tcg/Makefile.prereqs
-tests/tcg/Makefile.prereqs: config-host.mak
-
 # Per guest TCG tests
 BUILD_TCG_TARGET_RULES=$(patsubst %,build-tcg-tests-%, $(TCG_TESTS_TARGETS))
 CLEAN_TCG_TARGET_RULES=$(patsubst %,clean-tcg-tests-%, $(TCG_TESTS_TARGETS))