diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index fbaeeb80a69e9a09c1aec4c2ad533697a3c1594a..82dcf846d07b18c258afb286f93bd2b904c3f8da 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1100,6 +1100,11 @@ ifdef CONFIG_STACK_VALIDATION
   ifeq ($(has_libelf),1)
     objtool_target := tools/objtool FORCE
   else
+    ifdef CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC
+      $(error "Cannot generate ORC metadata for CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC=y, please install libelf-dev, libelf-devel or elfutils-libelf-devel")
+    else
+      $(warning "Cannot use CONFIG_STACK_VALIDATION=y, please install libelf-dev, libelf-devel or elfutils-libelf-devel")
+    endif
     SKIP_STACK_VALIDATION := 1
     export SKIP_STACK_VALIDATION
   endif
@@ -1249,14 +1254,6 @@ uapi-asm-generic:
 
 PHONY += prepare-objtool prepare-resolve_btfids
 prepare-objtool: $(objtool_target)
-ifeq ($(SKIP_STACK_VALIDATION),1)
-ifdef CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC
-	@echo "error: Cannot generate ORC metadata for CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC=y, please install libelf-dev, libelf-devel or elfutils-libelf-devel" >&2
-	@false
-else
-	@echo "warning: Cannot use CONFIG_STACK_VALIDATION=y, please install libelf-dev, libelf-devel or elfutils-libelf-devel" >&2
-endif
-endif
 
 prepare-resolve_btfids: $(resolve_btfids_target)
 ifeq ($(ERROR_RESOLVE_BTFIDS),1)