diff --git a/drivers/gpu/Makefile b/drivers/gpu/Makefile
index b4e5e338efa2..45e0941324fb 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/gpu/Makefile
@@ -7,4 +7,14 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_GPU_BUDDY)	+= buddy.o
 obj-y			+= host1x/ drm/ vga/ tests/
 obj-$(CONFIG_IMX_IPUV3_CORE)	+= ipu-v3/
 obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_GPU_MEM)		+= trace/
-obj-$(CONFIG_NOVA_CORE)		+= nova-core/
+
+# nova-core and nova-drm are built from this Makefile so nova-drm's dependency
+# on nova-core can be expressed as a plain Make prerequisite rather than a
+# recursive sub-make. This is a temporary workaround until the Rust build
+# system supports cross-crate dependencies natively.
+
+obj-$(CONFIG_NOVA_CORE) += nova-core.o
+nova-core-y := nova-core/nova_core.o
+
+obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_NOVA) += nova-drm.o
+nova-drm-y := drm/nova/nova.o
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/Makefile b/drivers/gpu/drm/Makefile
index e97faabcd783..e635fcffd379 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/Makefile
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_VMWGFX)+= vmwgfx/
 obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_VGEM)	+= vgem/
 obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_VKMS)	+= vkms/
 obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU) +=nouveau/
-obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_NOVA) += nova/
+# nova-drm is built from drivers/gpu/Makefile together with nova-core.
 obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_EXYNOS) +=exynos/
 obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_ROCKCHIP) +=rockchip/
 obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_GMA500) += gma500/
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nova/Makefile b/drivers/gpu/drm/nova/Makefile
index f8527b2b7b4a..b9fad3956358 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nova/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nova/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
-
-obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_NOVA) += nova-drm.o
-nova-drm-y := nova.o
+# nova-drm is built from drivers/gpu/Makefile.
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/nova-core/Makefile b/drivers/gpu/nova-core/Makefile
index 4ae544f808f4..4c15729704a1 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/nova-core/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/gpu/nova-core/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
-
-obj-$(CONFIG_NOVA_CORE) += nova-core.o
-nova-core-y := nova_core.o
+# nova-core is built from drivers/gpu/Makefile.