diff --git a/scripts/oe-setup-builddir b/scripts/oe-setup-builddir
index 76e17784d8..d5d8d980d3 100755
--- a/scripts/oe-setup-builddir
+++ b/scripts/oe-setup-builddir
@@ -118,5 +118,5 @@ EOM
 if [ "x" = "x$OECORENOTESCONF" ]; then
     OECORENOTESCONF="$OEROOT/meta/conf/conf-notes.txt"
 fi
-cat $OECORENOTESCONF
+[ ! -r "$OECORENOTESCONF" ] || cat $OECORENOTESCONF
 unset OECORENOTESCONF