diff --git a/tools/build/depend-cleanup.sh b/tools/build/depend-cleanup.sh
--- a/tools/build/depend-cleanup.sh
+++ b/tools/build/depend-cleanup.sh
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@
 		run $MAKE -C "$SRCTOP" -f "$SRCTOP"/Makefile.inc1 $CLEANMK
 	else
 		echo "Cleaning up the temporary build tree"
-		run rm -rf "$OBJTOP"
+		rm -rf "$OBJTOP"/* "$OBJTOP"/.[!.] "$OBJTOP"/.??*
 	fi
 
 	# We don't assume that all callers will have grabbed the build epoch, so
@@ -257,7 +257,6 @@
 		buildepoch=$(extract_epoch "$SRCTOP"/.clean_build_epoch)
 	fi
 
-	mkdir -p "$OBJTOP"
 	echo "$buildepoch" > "$OBJTOP"/.clean_build_epoch
 	echo "$srcopts" > "$OBJTOP"/.src_opts