diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ebe8492fc2..2e4df67ede 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ ifneq (,$(filter-out lib library/%,$(or $(MAKECMDGOALS),all)))
     ifeq (,$(wildcard framework/exported.make))
         # Use the define keyword to get a multi-line message.
         # GNU make appends ".  Stop.", so tweak the ending of our message accordingly.
-        ifeq (,$(wildcard .git))
+        ifneq (,$(wildcard .git))
             define error_message
 ${MBEDTLS_PATH}/framework/exported.make not found (and does appear to be a git checkout). Run `git submodule update --init` from the source tree to fetch the submodule contents.
 This is a fatal error