3 files changed, 11 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.txt b/Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.txt
index 01351554df60..fcd1a981523a 100644
--- a/Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.txt
@@ -779,6 +779,13 @@ This will delete the directory debian, including all subdirectories.
 Kbuild will assume the directories to be in the same relative path as the
 Makefile if no absolute path is specified (path does not start with '/').
 
+To exclude certain files from make clean, use the $(no-clean-files) variable.
+This is only a special case used in the top level Kbuild file:
+
+        Example:
+                #Kbuild
+                no-clean-files := $(bounds-file) $(offsets-file)
+
 Usually kbuild descends down in subdirectories due to "obj-* := dir/",
 but in the architecture makefiles where the kbuild infrastructure
 is not sufficient this sometimes needs to be explicit.
diff --git a/Kbuild b/Kbuild
index e3737ad72b5a..18a8bfbb353b 100644
--- a/Kbuild
+++ b/Kbuild
@@ -94,5 +94,5 @@ PHONY += missing-syscalls
 missing-syscalls: scripts/checksyscalls.sh FORCE
         $(call cmd,syscalls)
 
-# Delete all targets during make clean
-clean-files := $(addprefix $(objtree)/,$(filter-out $(bounds-file) $(offsets-file),$(targets)))
+# Keep these two files during make clean
+no-clean-files := $(bounds-file) $(offsets-file)
diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.clean b/scripts/Makefile.clean
index 6f89fbb56256..686cb0d31c7c 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.clean
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.clean
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ __clean-files	:= $(extra-y) $(always)                  \
                    $(host-progs)                         \
                    $(hostprogs-y) $(hostprogs-m) $(hostprogs-)
 
+__clean-files   := $(filter-out $(no-clean-files), $(__clean-files))
+
 # as clean-files is given relative to the current directory, this adds
 # a $(obj) prefix, except for absolute paths