diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 75669b4e3..96c048f0f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -141,6 +141,9 @@ CRIDIR=$(OUTPUTDIR)/cri
 .PHONY: clean all AUTHORS build binaries test integration generate protos checkprotos coverage ci check help install uninstall vendor release mandir install-man genman install-cri-deps cri-release cri-cni-release cri-integration install-deps bin/cri-integration.test
 .DEFAULT: default
 
+# Forcibly set the default goal to all, in case an include above brought in a rule definition.
+.DEFAULT_GOAL := all
+
 all: binaries
 
 check: proto-fmt ## run all linters