diff --git a/arch/lkl/Makefile b/arch/lkl/Makefile
index f615869a2814c34..003ca5a7555659f 100644
--- a/arch/lkl/Makefile
+++ b/arch/lkl/Makefile
@@ -82,18 +82,36 @@ archprepare: arch/lkl/include/generated/uapi/asm/config.h
 
 all: lkl.o arch/lkl/include/generated/uapi/asm/syscall_defs.h
 
+# The recipe runs on every build because 'vmlinux' is PHONY in the top-level
+# Makefile, so we cannot use $(if_changed) (newer-prereqs filters out PHONY,
+# making it miss real vmlinux content changes). Instead, write to a tmp file
+# and cmp before replacing, so $@'s mtime is preserved on no-op rebuilds and
+# downstream consumers (e.g. tools/lkl/liblkl.a) are not relinked needlessly.
+quiet_cmd_link_lkl = OBJCOPY $@
+      cmd_link_lkl = $(OBJCOPY) $(if $(KEEP_EH_FRAMES),,-R .eh_frame) \
+                     -R .syscall_defs \
+                     $(foreach sym,$(LKL_ENTRY_POINTS),-G$(prefix)$(sym)) \
+                     --prefix-symbols=$(prefix) $< $@.new && \
+                     { if cmp -s $@.new $@; then rm -f $@.new; \
+                       else mv -f $@.new $@; fi; }
+
 lkl.o: vmlinux
-	$(OBJCOPY) $(if $(KEEP_EH_FRAMES),,-R .eh_frame) -R .syscall_defs $(foreach sym,$(LKL_ENTRY_POINTS),-G$(prefix)$(sym)) --prefix-symbols=$(prefix) vmlinux lkl.o
+	$(call cmd,link_lkl)
+
+quiet_cmd_gen_syscall_defs = OBJCOPY $@
+      cmd_gen_syscall_defs = $(OBJCOPY) -j .syscall_defs -O binary \
+                             --set-section-flags .syscall_defs=alloc $< $@.raw && \
+                             sed 's/\x0//g' $@.raw > $@.new && rm -f $@.raw && \
+                             { if cmp -s $@.new $@; then rm -f $@.new; \
+                               else mv -f $@.new $@; fi; }
 
 arch/lkl/include/generated/uapi/asm/syscall_defs.h: vmlinux
-	$(OBJCOPY) -j .syscall_defs -O binary --set-section-flags .syscall_defs=alloc $< $@
-	$(Q) export tmpfile=$(shell mktemp); \
-	sed 's/\x0//g' $@ > $$tmpfile; mv $$tmpfile $@ ; rm -f $$tmpfile
+	$(call cmd,gen_syscall_defs)
 
 install: scripts_unifdef
 	@echo "  INSTALL	$(INSTALL_PATH)/lib/lkl.o"
 	@mkdir -p $(INSTALL_PATH)/lib/
-	@cp lkl.o $(INSTALL_PATH)/lib/
+	@cp -p lkl.o $(INSTALL_PATH)/lib/
 	@$(srctree)/arch/lkl/scripts/headers_install.py \
 		$(subst -j,-j$(NPROC),$(findstring -j,$(MAKEFLAGS))) \
 		$(INSTALL_PATH)/include
diff --git a/arch/lkl/include/uapi/asm/Kbuild b/arch/lkl/include/uapi/asm/Kbuild
index c9ed295242b2d5b..b3c1b6b6d6deaf1 100644
--- a/arch/lkl/include/uapi/asm/Kbuild
+++ b/arch/lkl/include/uapi/asm/Kbuild
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 generic-y += kvm_para.h
 
 generated-y += config.h
+generated-y += syscall_defs.h
 
 # no header-y since we need special user headers handling
 # see arch/lkl/script/headers.py
diff --git a/arch/lkl/scripts/headers_install.py b/arch/lkl/scripts/headers_install.py
index 43fe5ac5829d787..4b895e35e129ff9 100755
--- a/arch/lkl/scripts/headers_install.py
+++ b/arch/lkl/scripts/headers_install.py
@@ -128,10 +128,16 @@ def install_headers(self):
                 os.makedirs(out_dir)
             except:
                 pass
-            print("  INSTALL\t%s" % (out_dir + "/" + os.path.basename(h)))
-            os.system(self.srctree+"/scripts/headers_install.sh %s %s" % (self.relpath2abspath(h),
-                                                       out_dir + "/" + os.path.basename(h)))
-            new_headers.add(out_dir + "/" + os.path.basename(h))
+            # Install to a .raw tmp first. update_header() will read the raw
+            # content, produce the final prefixed version, and only overwrite
+            # the final destination when content differs - preserving mtime
+            # on no-op rebuilds so downstream host objects are not recompiled.
+            raw = out_dir + "/" + os.path.basename(h) + ".raw"
+            ret = os.system(self.srctree+"/scripts/headers_install.sh %s %s" %
+                            (self.relpath2abspath(h), raw))
+            if ret != 0:
+                sys.exit(1)
+            new_headers.add(raw)
 
         self.headers = new_headers
 
@@ -161,7 +167,9 @@ def find_all_symbols(self):
         self.defines.add("__NR_stime")
 
     def update_header(self, h):
-        print("  REPLACE\t%s" % h)
+        # h is a .raw tmp file produced by install_headers(); the final
+        # destination is h without the .raw suffix.
+        dst = h[:-len(".raw")]
         content = open(h).read()
         for i in self.includes:
             search_str = r"(#[ \t]*include[ \t]*[<\"][ \t]*)" + i + r"([ \t]*[>\"])"
@@ -184,7 +192,11 @@ def update_header(self, h):
             search_str = r"(\W?union\s+)" + s + r"(\W)"
             replace_str = "\\1" + self.lkl_prefix(s) + "\\2"
             content = re.sub(search_str, replace_str, content, flags = re.MULTILINE)
-        open(h, 'w').write(content)
+        existing = open(dst).read() if os.path.exists(dst) else None
+        if content != existing:
+            print("  INSTALL\t%s" % dst)
+            open(dst, 'w').write(content)
+        os.unlink(h)
 
     def update_headers(self):
         p = multiprocessing.Pool(args.jobs)
diff --git a/tools/lkl/Makefile b/tools/lkl/Makefile
index d3d91841014ea92..7708058ab141f8a 100644
--- a/tools/lkl/Makefile
+++ b/tools/lkl/Makefile
@@ -75,7 +75,11 @@ $(DOT_CONFIG): $(OUTPUT)/kernel.config
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) -C ../.. ARCH=lkl $(KOPT) syncconfig
 
 # rule to build lkl.o
-$(OUTPUT)lib/lkl.o: bin/stat $(DOT_CONFIG)
+# FORCE is required so the recursive kernel build is always invoked; kbuild
+# inside the sub-make handles incremental compilation based on source-file
+# timestamps. Without FORCE, changes to kernel sources are silently ignored
+# because lib/lkl.o has no dependency on them.
+$(OUTPUT)lib/lkl.o: bin/stat $(DOT_CONFIG) FORCE
 # this workaround is for arm32 linker (ld.gold)
 	$(Q)export PATH="$(srctree)/tools/lkl/bin/:${PATH}" ;\
 	$(MAKE) -C ../.. ARCH=lkl $(KOPT)