diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 23f462f6..7000adb 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -761,7 +761,7 @@
 sub is_maintained_obsolete {
 	my ($filename) = @_;
 
-	return 0 if (!(-e "$root/scripts/get_maintainer.pl"));
+	return 0 if (!$tree || !(-e "$root/scripts/get_maintainer.pl"));
 
 	my $status = `perl $root/scripts/get_maintainer.pl --status --nom --nol --nogit --nogit-fallback -f $filename 2>&1`;