diff --git a/lib/libpmc/Makefile b/lib/libpmc/Makefile
index 7a237d0a7eb..48e94a2a078 100644
--- a/lib/libpmc/Makefile
+++ b/lib/libpmc/Makefile
@@ -20,9 +20,11 @@ EVENT_ARCH="powerpc"
 .endif
 
 JEVENTS= ${BTOOLSPATH:U.}/pmu-events/jevents
-# This file is built in a subdirectory so never try to rebuild
-# it here due to missing meta file.
-${JEVENTS}: .NOMETA
+# This file is built in a subdirectory so never try to rebuild it here.
+${JEVENTS}: .PHONY
+.if make(*clean*)
+SUBDIR+= pmu-events
+.endif
 
 libpmc_events.c: ${JEVENTS}
 	${JEVENTS} ${EVENT_ARCH} ${.CURDIR}/pmu-events/arch libpmc_events.c