diff --git a/src/foreign/Makefile.in b/src/foreign/Makefile.in
index 334b8b7214..2dab0a7fac 100644
--- a/src/foreign/Makefile.in
+++ b/src/foreign/Makefile.in
@@ -31,4 +31,4 @@ foreign.@LTO@: $(srcdir)/foreign.c \
 
 clean:
 	rm -f foreign.@LTO@
-	cd libffi; $(MAKE) clean
+	if [ -d libffi ] ; then cd libffi ; $(MAKE) clean ; fi