diff --git a/build/files.c b/build/files.c
index b2fec8f..5cd6d82 100644
--- a/build/files.c
+++ b/build/files.c
@@ -1916,7 +1916,7 @@ static int processPackageFiles(Spec spec, Package pkg,
     s = getStringBuf(pkg->fileList);
     files = splitString(s, strlen(s), '\n');
 
-    parseForAttr(rpmExpand("%_defattr", NULL), &fl);
+    parseForAttr(rpmExpand("%{?_defattr}", NULL), &fl);
 
     for (fp = files; *fp != NULL; fp++) {
 	s = *fp;