diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile.perf b/tools/perf/Makefile.perf
index 77b153fa23a5..5fedd6946f32 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile.perf
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile.perf
@@ -712,9 +712,15 @@ $(patsubst perf-%,%.o,$(PROGRAMS)): $(LIB_H) $(wildcard */*.h)
 # we depend the various files onto their directories.
 DIRECTORY_DEPS = $(LIB_OBJS) $(BUILTIN_OBJS) $(GTK_OBJS)
 DIRECTORY_DEPS += $(OUTPUT)PERF-VERSION-FILE $(OUTPUT)common-cmds.h
-$(DIRECTORY_DEPS): | $(sort $(dir $(DIRECTORY_DEPS)))
+# no need to add flex objects, because they depend on bison ones
+DIRECTORY_DEPS += $(OUTPUT)util/parse-events-bison.c
+DIRECTORY_DEPS += $(OUTPUT)util/pmu-bison.c
+
+OUTPUT_DIRECTORIES := $(sort $(dir $(DIRECTORY_DEPS)))
+
+$(DIRECTORY_DEPS): | $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORIES)
 # In the second step, we make a rule to actually create these directories
-$(sort $(dir $(DIRECTORY_DEPS))):
+$(OUTPUT_DIRECTORIES):
 	$(QUIET_MKDIR)$(MKDIR) -p $@ 2>/dev/null
 
 $(LIB_FILE): $(LIB_OBJS)