diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6eca3c9ec6..6cfe83072e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -677,6 +677,9 @@ endif
 
 $(TARGETS_ROOTFS): target-finalize
 
+# Avoid the rootfs name leaking down the dependency chain
+target-finalize: ROOTFS=
+
 .PHONY: target-finalize
 target-finalize: $(PACKAGES)
 	@$(call MESSAGE,"Finalizing target directory")
diff --git a/fs/common.mk b/fs/common.mk
index 274a3e9c7b..19a975aa47 100644
--- a/fs/common.mk
+++ b/fs/common.mk
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ ROOTFS_$(2)_COMPRESS_EXT = .xz
 ROOTFS_$(2)_COMPRESS_CMD = xz -9 -C crc32 -c
 endif
 
+$$(BINARIES_DIR)/rootfs.$(1): ROOTFS=$(2)
 $$(BINARIES_DIR)/rootfs.$(1): target-finalize $$(ROOTFS_$(2)_DEPENDENCIES)
 	@$$(call MESSAGE,"Generating root filesystem image rootfs.$(1)")
 	rm -rf $(FS_DIR)
diff --git a/package/pkg-generic.mk b/package/pkg-generic.mk
index 6d82f7027e..152e1d0c67 100644
--- a/package/pkg-generic.mk
+++ b/package/pkg-generic.mk
@@ -384,6 +384,10 @@ endef
 
 define inner-generic-package
 
+# When doing a package, we're definitely not doing a rootfs, but we
+# may inherit it via the dependency chain, so we reset it.
+$(1): ROOTFS=
+
 # Ensure the package is only declared once, i.e. do not accept that a
 # package be re-defined by a br2-external tree
 ifneq ($(call strip,$(filter $(1),$(PACKAGES_ALL))),)