diff --git a/debian/rules.d/1-maintainer.mk b/debian/rules.d/1-maintainer.mk
index c7224301d525..a5c81896cc84 100644
--- a/debian/rules.d/1-maintainer.mk
+++ b/debian/rules.d/1-maintainer.mk
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ ifneq ($(wildcard $(DEBIAN)/config/config.common.ubuntu),)
 	debian/scripts/misc/migrate-annotations < build/.annotations > $(DEBIAN)/config/annotations
 	mv build/.README.rst $(DEBIAN)/config/README.rst 2>/dev/null || true
 	rm -rf build
-	conc_level=$(conc_level) $(SHELL) $(DROOT)/scripts/misc/kernelconfig updateconfigs
+	kmake='$(kmake)' conc_level=$(conc_level) $(SHELL) $(DROOT)/scripts/misc/kernelconfig updateconfigs
 endif
 
 configs-targets := updateconfigs defaultconfigs genconfigs editconfigs
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ $(configs-targets):
 ifneq ($(wildcard $(DEBIAN)/config/config.common.ubuntu),)
 	conc_level=$(conc_level) $(SHELL) $(DROOT)/scripts/misc/old-kernelconfig $@
 else
-	skip_checks=$(do_skip_checks) conc_level=$(conc_level) \
+	kmake='$(kmake)' skip_checks=$(do_skip_checks) conc_level=$(conc_level) \
 		$(SHELL) $(DROOT)/scripts/misc/kernelconfig $@
 endif
 
diff --git a/debian/scripts/misc/kernelconfig b/debian/scripts/misc/kernelconfig
index a3559f323b57..035426762f8a 100755
--- a/debian/scripts/misc/kernelconfig
+++ b/debian/scripts/misc/kernelconfig
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ EOF
 	# Call config target
 	echo
 	echo "* Run ${target} on ${arch}/${flavour} ..."
-	make O=build "${env[@]}" "${target}"
+	${kmake} O=build "${env[@]}" "${target}"
 
 	# Move config for further processing
 	mv build/.config "${tmp_conf_file}"