diff --git a/meta/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot.inc b/meta/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot.inc
index f022aed732..5056cef897 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot.inc
+++ b/meta/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot.inc
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ do_compile () {
     unset CFLAGS
     unset CPPFLAGS

-    if [ ! -e ${B}/.scmversion -a ! -e ${S}/.scmversion ]
+    if [ ! -e ${B}/.scmversion -a ! -e ${S}/.scmversion -a -n "${UBOOT_LOCALVERSION}" ]
     then
         echo ${UBOOT_LOCALVERSION} > ${B}/.scmversion
         echo ${UBOOT_LOCALVERSION} > ${S}/.scmversion