diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2e93068894..37aed4a244 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -15,9 +15,6 @@ UNCHECKED_GOALS := %clean TAGS cscope ctags dist \
     help check-help print-% \
     docker docker-% vm-help vm-test vm-build-%
 
-print-%:
-	@echo '$*=$($*)'
-
 # All following code might depend on configuration variables
 ifneq ($(wildcard config-host.mak),)
 # Put the all: rule here so that config-host.mak can contain dependencies.
diff --git a/rules.mak b/rules.mak
index e39b073d46..694865b63e 100644
--- a/rules.mak
+++ b/rules.mak
@@ -435,3 +435,6 @@ sentinel = .$(subst $(SPACE),_,$(subst /,_,$1)).sentinel.
 atomic = $(eval $1: $(call sentinel,$1) ; @:) \
          $(call sentinel,$1) : $2 ; @touch $$@ \
          $(foreach t,$1,$(if $(wildcard $t),,$(shell rm -f $(call sentinel,$1))))
+
+print-%:
+	@echo '$*=$($*)'