diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a53ef89da7..86aea91a25 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -416,6 +416,7 @@ ifneq ($(BR2_HAVE_DOCUMENTATION),y)
 	rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/info $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/info
 	rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/doc $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/doc
 	rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/gtk-doc
+	-rmdir $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share 2>/dev/null
 endif
 	find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -perm +111 | xargs $(STRIPCMD) 2>/dev/null || true
 	find $(TARGET_DIR)/lib/modules -type f -name '*.ko' | \