diff --git a/share/mk/local.sys.mk b/share/mk/local.sys.mk
index 15b8eb402ea..47c8034fb4a 100644
--- a/share/mk/local.sys.mk
+++ b/share/mk/local.sys.mk
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ MAKE_PRINT_VAR_ON_ERROR += \
 	.MAKE.MODE
 .endif
 
-_ERROR_CMD=${sed -n '/^CMD/s,^CMD ,,p' ${.ERROR_META_FILE}:L:sh}
+_ERROR_CMD_EXEC=	${sed -n '/^CMD/s,^CMD ,,p' ${.ERROR_META_FILE}:L:sh}
+_ERROR_CMD=		${!empty(.ERROR_META_FILE):?${_ERROR_CMD_EXEC}:.PHONY}
 MAKE_PRINT_VAR_ON_ERROR+= \
 	_ERROR_CMD \
 	.CURDIR \