diff --git a/linux/linux.mk b/linux/linux.mk
index 91a9f50..fe89357 100644
--- a/linux/linux.mk
+++ b/linux/linux.mk
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ LINUX_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 # Compute LINUX_SOURCE and LINUX_SITE from the configuration
 ifeq ($(LINUX_VERSION),custom)
 LINUX_TARBALL = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_TARBALL_LOCATION))
+# If the tarball happens to be a local file SITE_METHOD is set accordingly
+ifneq ($(wildcard $(LINUX_TARBALL)),)
+LINUX_SITE_METHOD = "file"
+endif
 LINUX_SITE = $(patsubst %/,%,$(dir $(LINUX_TARBALL)))
 LINUX_SOURCE = $(notdir $(LINUX_TARBALL))
 else ifeq ($(BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_GIT),y)