diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d3a7040b..fa192ad5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -23,8 +23,9 @@ endif
 # recursive make considered useful for m-p
 MAKE += -r --no-print-directory
 
-.PHONY: clean distclean help
-clean distclean help:
+DIRECT_TARGETS := clean distclean check help
+.PHONY: $(DIRECT_TARGETS)
+$(DIRECT_TARGETS):
 	@$(MAKE) -f main.mk $@
 
 export NUM_TARGETS := $(words $(MAKECMDGOALS))
diff --git a/lib/check.mk b/lib/check.mk
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d8a15fee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/check.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+ifndef MKIMAGE_PROFILES
+$(error this makefile is designed to be included in toplevel one)
+endif
+
+check:
+	@find sub.in features.in \
+		-path '*scripts.d/*' \
+		\! \( -perm 755 -o -name .gitignore \) \
+	| while read line; do \
+		echo "chmod 755 $$line"; \
+	done