diff --git a/Makefile.inc1 b/Makefile.inc1
index 0842356f63f9..d4f1bfdbd822 100644
--- a/Makefile.inc1
+++ b/Makefile.inc1
@@ -959,6 +959,7 @@ distributeworld installworld: _installcheck_world
 	cp $$libs $$progs ${INSTALLTMP}
 	cp -R $${PATH_LOCALE:-"/usr/share/locale"} ${INSTALLTMP}/locale
 .if defined(NO_ROOT)
+	-mkdir -p ${METALOG:H}
 	echo "#${MTREE_MAGIC}" > ${METALOG}
 .endif
 .if make(distributeworld)