diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 45fbf66b..78154240 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -24,10 +24,12 @@ load:
 ../gems/:
 	mkdir -p $@
 
+ifeq ($(MAKECMDGOALS),convert-gems)
 gem_dir := $(shell readlink -f ../gems)
 gems := $(shell bundle show --paths | xargs -I {} sh -c 'test -f {}/ext/*/extconf.rb && basename {}')
 gems += $(shell bundle show --paths | xargs -I {} sh -c 'test -f {}/ext/extconf.rb && basename {}')
 gems_musl := $(patsubst %,$(gem_dir)/%-x86_64-linux-musl.gem,$(gems))
+endif
 
 $(gem_dir)/%-x86_64-linux-musl.gem:
 	docker run \