diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass
index b3865dcb0f..2e9563186e 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass
@@ -181,13 +181,14 @@ do_unpack[cleandirs] += " ${S} ${STAGING_KERNEL_DIR} ${B} ${STAGING_KERNEL_BUILD
 do_clean[cleandirs] += " ${S} ${STAGING_KERNEL_DIR} ${B} ${STAGING_KERNEL_BUILDDIR}"
 python do_symlink_kernsrc () {
     s = d.getVar("S")
-    if s[-1] == '/':
-        # drop trailing slash, so that os.symlink(kernsrc, s) doesn't use s as directory name and fail
-        s=s[:-1]
     kernsrc = d.getVar("STAGING_KERNEL_DIR")
     if s != kernsrc:
         bb.utils.mkdirhier(kernsrc)
         bb.utils.remove(kernsrc, recurse=True)
+        if s[-1] == '/':
+            # drop trailing slash, so that os.symlink(kernsrc, s) doesn't use s as
+            # directory name and fail
+            s = s[:-1]
         if d.getVar("EXTERNALSRC"):
             # With EXTERNALSRC S will not be wiped so we can symlink to it
             os.symlink(s, kernsrc)