diff --git a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile
index fa42f895fdde..169c2feda14a 100644
--- a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile
+++ b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile
@@ -106,9 +106,13 @@ define cmd_check_data_rel
 	done
 endef
 
+# We need to run two commands under "if_changed", so merge them into a
+# single invocation.
+quiet_cmd_check-and-link-vmlinux = LD      $@
+      cmd_check-and-link-vmlinux = $(cmd_check_data_rel); $(cmd_ld)
+
 $(obj)/vmlinux: $(vmlinux-objs-y) FORCE
-	$(call if_changed,check_data_rel)
-	$(call if_changed,ld)
+	$(call if_changed,check-and-link-vmlinux)
 
 OBJCOPYFLAGS_vmlinux.bin :=  -R .comment -S
 $(obj)/vmlinux.bin: vmlinux FORCE