diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5df869213b6..fdaba4895fe 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -194,6 +194,10 @@ endif # sub_make_done
 # We process the rest of the Makefile if this is the final invocation of make
 ifeq ($(need-sub-make),)
 
+# Do not propagate sub_make_done to non-submake children (e.g. test scripts
+# that invoke make separately with O= need to process the KBUILD_OUTPUT block)
+unexport sub_make_done
+
 # Do not print "Entering directory ...",
 # but we want to display it when entering to the output directory
 # so that IDEs/editors are able to understand relative filenames.
@@ -2737,10 +2741,6 @@ help:
 	@echo  'Execute "make" or "make all" to build all targets marked with [*] '
 	@echo  'For further info see the ./README file'
 
-ifneq ($(filter tests pcheck qcheck tcheck,$(MAKECMDGOALS)),)
-export sub_make_done := 0
-endif
-
 tests check:
 	$(srctree)/test/run