diff --git a/fs/tar/tar.mk b/fs/tar/tar.mk
index 11c69c5a8b..b14c977d76 100644
--- a/fs/tar/tar.mk
+++ b/fs/tar/tar.mk
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
 TAR_OPTS := $(call qstrip,$(BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_TAR_OPTIONS))
 
 define ROOTFS_TAR_CMD
-	tar $(TAR_OPTS) -cf $@ --numeric-owner -C $(TARGET_DIR) .
+	(cd $(TARGET_DIR); find -print0 | LC_ALL=C sort -z | \
+		tar $(TAR_OPTS) -cf $@ --null -T - --no-recursion --numeric-owner)
 endef
 
 $(eval $(call ROOTFS_TARGET,tar))