diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a4bb63f4..65e30af1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ endif
 TESTS = $(shell sed -n -e '/^[0-9][0-9][0-9]*/s/ .*//p' group)
 CONFIGURE = configure include/builddefs include/config.h
 LSRCFILES = configure configure.in aclocal.m4 README VERSION
-LDIRT = config.log .dep config.status config.cache confdefs.h conftest* \
-	check.log check.time
+LDIRT = config.log .ltdep .dep config.status config.cache confdefs.h \
+	conftest* check.log check.time
 
 ifeq ($(HAVE_DMAPI), true)
 DMAPI_MAKEFILE = dmapi/Makefile
diff --git a/include/buildrules b/include/buildrules
index 5388210e..d8ef6b1e 100644
--- a/include/buildrules
+++ b/include/buildrules
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/include/builddefs
 
 clean clobber : $(addsuffix -clean,$(SUBDIRS))
 	$(Q)rm -f $(DIRT)
-	$(Q)rm -fr .libs .dep
+	$(Q)rm -fr .libs .ltdep .dep
 
 %-clean:
 	@echo "Cleaning $*"
@@ -75,11 +75,17 @@ $(_FORCE):
 
 MAKEDEP := $(MAKEDEPEND) $(CFLAGS)
 
-ltdepend: $(CFILES) $(HFILES)
-	@echo "    [DEP]"
-	$(Q)$(MAKEDEP) $(CFILES) | $(SED) -e 's,^\([^:]*\)\.o,\1.lo,' > .dep
+ltdepend: .ltdep
 
-depend: $(CFILES) $(HFILES)
+.ltdep: $(CFILES) $(HFILES)
+	@echo "    [LTDEP]"
+	$(Q)[ -n "$(CFILES)" ] && \
+	    $(MAKEDEP) $(CFILES) | $(SED) -e 's,^\([^:]*\)\.o,\1.lo,' > .ltdep
+
+depend: .dep
+
+.dep: $(CFILES) $(HFILES)
 	@echo "    [DEP]"
-	$(Q)$(MAKEDEP) $(CFILES) | $(SED) -e 's,^\([^:]*\)\.o,\1,' > .dep
+	$(Q)[ -n "$(CFILES)" ] && \
+	    $(MAKEDEP) $(CFILES) | $(SED) -e 's,^\([^:]*\)\.o,\1,' > .dep
 
diff --git a/lib/Makefile b/lib/Makefile
index 43fb0a09..094167c8 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile
+++ b/lib/Makefile
@@ -25,4 +25,4 @@ include $(BUILDRULES)
 
 install install-dev: default
 
--include .dep
+-include .ltdep