diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index cb19f54b4b2a..e44ff91e811d 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -1400,18 +1400,34 @@ sub process {
 		}
 
 # check for Kconfig help text having a real description
+# Only applies when adding the entry originally, after that we do not have
+# sufficient context to determine whether it is indeed long enough.
 		if ($realfile =~ /Kconfig/ &&
-		    $line =~ /\+?\s*(---)?help(---)?$/) {
+		    $line =~ /\+\s*(?:---)?help(?:---)?$/) {
 			my $length = 0;
-			for (my $l = $linenr; defined($lines[$l]); $l++) {
-				my $f = $lines[$l];
+			my $cnt = $realcnt;
+			my $ln = $linenr + 1;
+			my $f;
+			my $is_end = 0;
+			while ($cnt > 0 && defined $lines[$ln - 1]) {
+				$f = $lines[$ln - 1];
+				$cnt-- if ($lines[$ln - 1] !~ /^-/);
+				$is_end = $lines[$ln - 1] =~ /^\+/;
+				$ln++;
+
+				next if ($f =~ /^-/);
+				$f =~ s/^.//;
 				$f =~ s/#.*//;
 				$f =~ s/^\s+//;
 				next if ($f =~ /^$/);
-				last if ($f =~ /^\s*config\s/);
+				if ($f =~ /^\s*config\s/) {
+					$is_end = 1;
+					last;
+				}
 				$length++;
 			}
-			WARN("please write a paragraph that describes the config symbol fully\n" . $herecurr) if ($length < 4);
+			WARN("please write a paragraph that describes the config symbol fully\n" . $herecurr) if ($is_end && $length < 4);
+			#print "is_end<$is_end> length<$length>\n";
 		}
 
 # check we are in a valid source file if not then ignore this hunk