diff --git a/package/pkg-generic.mk b/package/pkg-generic.mk
index 1a37b12580..12ae86f08e 100644
--- a/package/pkg-generic.mk
+++ b/package/pkg-generic.mk
@@ -779,7 +779,6 @@ endif
 ifneq ($$($(2)_LICENSE_FILES),)
 $(2)_MANIFEST_LICENSE_FILES = $$($(2)_LICENSE_FILES)
 endif
-$(2)_MANIFEST_LICENSE_FILES ?= not saved
 
 # We need to extract and patch a package to be able to retrieve its
 # license files (if any) and the list of patches applied to it (if