diff --git a/linux/linux.mk b/linux/linux.mk
index 476ff16329..864fa772bb 100644
--- a/linux/linux.mk
+++ b/linux/linux.mk
@@ -461,9 +461,7 @@ define LINUX_INSTALL_HOST_TOOLS
 	# Installing dtc (device tree compiler) as host tool, if selected
 	if grep -q "CONFIG_DTC=y" $(@D)/.config; then \
 		$(INSTALL) -D -m 0755 $(@D)/scripts/dtc/dtc $(HOST_DIR)/bin/linux-dtc ; \
-		if [ ! -e $(HOST_DIR)/bin/dtc ]; then \
-			ln -sf linux-dtc $(HOST_DIR)/bin/dtc ; \
-		fi \
+		$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_DTC),,ln -sf linux-dtc $(HOST_DIR)/bin/dtc;) \
 	fi
 endef