diff --git a/core/tasks/collect_gpl_sources.mk b/core/tasks/collect_gpl_sources.mk
index 30ba62b609..70f0afe557 100644
--- a/core/tasks/collect_gpl_sources.mk
+++ b/core/tasks/collect_gpl_sources.mk
@@ -12,20 +12,22 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-gpl_source_tgz := $(call intermediates-dir-for,PACKAGING,gpl_source,HOST,COMMON)/gpl_source.tgz
+ifdef dist_goal
+
+# The rule below doesn't have dependenices on the files that it copies,
+# so manually generate directly into the DIST_DIR directory that is always
+# wiped between dist builds.
+gpl_source_tgz := $(DIST_DIR)/gpl_source.tgz
 
 # FORCE since we can't know whether any of the sources changed
 $(gpl_source_tgz): PRIVATE_PATHS := $(sort $(patsubst %/, %, $(dir $(ALL_GPL_MODULE_LICENSE_FILES))))
-$(gpl_source_tgz) : $(ALL_GPL_MODULE_LICENSE_FILES) FORCE
+$(gpl_source_tgz) : $(ALL_GPL_MODULE_LICENSE_FILES)
 	@echo Package gpl sources: $@
-	@rm -rf $(dir $@) && mkdir -p $(dir $@)
 	$(hide) tar cfz $@ --exclude ".git*" $(PRIVATE_PATHS)
 
-
-.PHONY: gpl_source_tgz
-gpl_source_tgz : $(gpl_source_tgz)
-
 # Dist the tgz only if we are doing a full build
 ifeq (,$(TARGET_BUILD_APPS))
-$(call dist-for-goals, droidcore, $(gpl_source_tgz))
+droidcore: $(gpl_source_tgz)
 endif
+
+endif # dist_goal