diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 85883099410..0494e2fa2bf 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -9918,7 +9918,9 @@ esac
 # These force 'configure's to be done one at a time, to avoid problems
 # with contention over a shared config.cache.
 rm -f serdep.tmp
+if test "x${enable_serial_build_configure}" = xyes || test "x${enable_serial_host_configure}" = xyes || test "x${enable_serial_target_configure}" = xyes; then
 echo '# serdep.tmp' > serdep.tmp
+fi
 olditem=
 test "x${enable_serial_build_configure}" = xyes &&
 for item in ${build_configdirs} ; do
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2b612dce6e9..f5cce5830bc 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -3071,7 +3071,9 @@ esac
 # These force 'configure's to be done one at a time, to avoid problems
 # with contention over a shared config.cache.
 rm -f serdep.tmp
+if test "x${enable_serial_build_configure}" = xyes || test "x${enable_serial_host_configure}" = xyes || test "x${enable_serial_target_configure}" = xyes; then
 echo '# serdep.tmp' > serdep.tmp
+fi
 olditem=
 test "x${enable_serial_build_configure}" = xyes &&
 for item in ${build_configdirs} ; do