1 files changed, 3 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 25adf9811a2c..eced9b303995 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -852,9 +852,10 @@ sub is_maintained_obsolete {
 sub is_SPDX_License_valid {
         my ($license) = @_;
 
-        return 1 if (!$tree || which("python") eq "" || !(-e "$root/scripts/spdxcheck.py"));
+        return 1 if (!$tree || which("python") eq "" || !(-e "$root/scripts/spdxcheck.py") || !(-e "$root/.git"));
 
-        my $status = `echo "$license" | python $root/scripts/spdxcheck.py -`;
+        my $root_path = abs_path($root);
+        my $status = `cd "$root_path"; echo "$license" | python scripts/spdxcheck.py -`;
         return 0 if ($status ne "");
         return 1;
 }