diff --git a/make/common.mk b/make/common.mk
index 605b8ab862..d19f7eb46c 100644
--- a/make/common.mk
+++ b/make/common.mk
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 #
 # (Note that we only rebuild this makefile automatically for some
 # targets, see project_config.mk for details.)
-SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE ?= $(abspath $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/include/config/auto.conf)
--include $(SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE)
+SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE ?= $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/include/config/auto.conf
+include $(SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE)
 export SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE  # sub-makes (like bootloader) will reuse this path
 
 #Handling of V=1/VERBOSE=1 flag
diff --git a/make/project.mk b/make/project.mk
index bebb1fc7d4..02ef7bb174 100644
--- a/make/project.mk
+++ b/make/project.mk
@@ -370,12 +370,7 @@ $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/$(2)/lib$(2).a: $(2)-build
 # If any component_project_vars.mk file is out of date, the make
 # process will call this target to rebuild it and then restart.
 #
-# Note: $(SDKCONFIG) is a normal prereq as we need to rebuild these
-# files whenever the config changes. $(SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE) is an
-# order-only prereq because if it hasn't been rebuilt, we need to
-# build it first - but including it as a normal prereq can lead to
-# infinite restarts as the conf process will keep updating it.
-$(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/$(2)/component_project_vars.mk: $(1)/component.mk $(COMMON_MAKEFILES) $(SDKCONFIG) | $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/$(2) $(SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE)
+$(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/$(2)/component_project_vars.mk: $(1)/component.mk $(COMMON_MAKEFILES) $(SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE) | $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/$(2)
 	$(call ComponentMake,$(1),$(2)) component_project_vars.mk
 endef
 
diff --git a/make/project_config.mk b/make/project_config.mk
index 011aa1ff0e..d33ae11969 100644
--- a/make/project_config.mk
+++ b/make/project_config.mk
@@ -48,26 +48,11 @@ endif
 	mkdir -p $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/include/config
 	$(KCONFIG_TOOL_ENV) $(KCONFIG_TOOL_DIR)/conf --olddefconfig $(IDF_PATH)/Kconfig
 
-# Work out of whether we have to build the Kconfig makefile
-# (auto.conf), or if we're in a situation where we don't need it
-NON_CONFIG_TARGETS := clean %-clean help menuconfig defconfig
-AUTO_CONF_REGEN_TARGET := $(SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE)
-
-# disable AUTO_CONF_REGEN_TARGET if all targets are non-config targets
-# (and not building default target)
-ifneq ("$(MAKECMDGOALS)","")
-ifeq ($(filter $(NON_CONFIG_TARGETS), $(MAKECMDGOALS)),$(MAKECMDGOALS))
-AUTO_CONF_REGEN_TARGET :=
-# dummy target
-$(SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE):
-endif
-endif
-
-$(AUTO_CONF_REGEN_TARGET) $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/include/sdkconfig.h: $(SDKCONFIG) $(KCONFIG_TOOL_DIR)/conf $(COMPONENT_KCONFIGS) $(COMPONENT_KCONFIGS_PROJBUILD)
+$(SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE) $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/include/sdkconfig.h: $(SDKCONFIG) $(KCONFIG_TOOL_DIR)/conf $(COMPONENT_KCONFIGS) $(COMPONENT_KCONFIGS_PROJBUILD)
 	$(summary) GENCONFIG
 	mkdir -p $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/include/config
 	cd $(BUILD_DIR_BASE); $(KCONFIG_TOOL_ENV) $(KCONFIG_TOOL_DIR)/conf --silentoldconfig $(IDF_PATH)/Kconfig
-	touch $(AUTO_CONF_REGEN_TARGET) $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/include/sdkconfig.h
+	touch $(SDKCONFIG_MAKEFILE) $(BUILD_DIR_BASE)/include/sdkconfig.h
 # touch to ensure both output files are newer - as 'conf' can also update sdkconfig (a dependency). Without this,
 # sometimes you can get an infinite make loop on Windows where sdkconfig always gets regenerated newer
 # than the target(!)