...otherwise build fails. Last kernel I built on my home machine was
  2.6.8-rc3-bk1, so I don't know where the issue was introduced. I ran
  a quick search and couldn't find any former reports.

Mini-patch attached.

--alessandro

  "I can tell by the lines on our faces / And the young can't understand
   That they look at me / When they look at themselves"
     (John Mellencamp, "Sweet Evening Breeze")