diff --git a/scripts/package/deb-build-option b/scripts/package/deb-build-option
index bd53624318f2..7950eff01781 100755
--- a/scripts/package/deb-build-option
+++ b/scripts/package/deb-build-option
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
 
-# Set up CROSS_COMPILE if we are cross-compiling, but not called from the
-# kernel toplevel Makefile
-if [ -z "${CROSS_COMPILE}${cross_compiling}" -a "${DEB_HOST_ARCH}" != "${DEB_BUILD_ARCH}" ]; then
+# Set up CROSS_COMPILE if not defined yet
+if [ "${CROSS_COMPILE+set}" != "set" -a "${DEB_HOST_ARCH}" != "${DEB_BUILD_ARCH}" ]; then
 	echo CROSS_COMPILE=${DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE}-
 fi