diff --git a/share/mk/bsd.dep.mk b/share/mk/bsd.dep.mk
index 50ed33c2838d..d80cb9de117a 100644
--- a/share/mk/bsd.dep.mk
+++ b/share/mk/bsd.dep.mk
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ DEPEND_CFLAGS+=	-MT${.TARGET}
 .if defined(.PARSEDIR)
 # Only add in DEPEND_CFLAGS for CFLAGS on files we expect from DEPENDOBJS
 # as those are the only ones we will include.
-DEPEND_CFLAGS_CONDITION= !empty(DEPENDOBJS:M${.TARGET:${DEPEND_FILTER}})
+DEPEND_CFLAGS_CONDITION= "${DEPENDOBJS:M${.TARGET:${DEPEND_FILTER}}}" != ""
 CFLAGS+=	${${DEPEND_CFLAGS_CONDITION}:?${DEPEND_CFLAGS}:}
 .else
 CFLAGS+=	${DEPEND_CFLAGS}
diff --git a/sys/conf/kern.post.mk b/sys/conf/kern.post.mk
index d28e87b6875a..3286c6656fcd 100644
--- a/sys/conf/kern.post.mk
+++ b/sys/conf/kern.post.mk
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ DEPEND_CFLAGS+=	-MT${.TARGET}
 .if defined(.PARSEDIR)
 # Only add in DEPEND_CFLAGS for CFLAGS on files we expect from DEPENDOBJS
 # as those are the only ones we will include.
-DEPEND_CFLAGS_CONDITION= !empty(DEPENDOBJS:M${.TARGET})
+DEPEND_CFLAGS_CONDITION= "${DEPENDOBJS:M${.TARGET}}" != ""
 CFLAGS+=	${${DEPEND_CFLAGS_CONDITION}:?${DEPEND_CFLAGS}:}
 .else
 CFLAGS+=	${DEPEND_CFLAGS}