diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 61bf9e235..50b80b945 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ shellcheck:
 			$$(find ${top_srcdir}/scripts/*.sh -type f) \
 			$$(find ${top_srcdir}/cmd/zed/zed.d/*.sh -type f) \
 			$$(find ${top_srcdir}/cmd/zpool/zpool.d/* -executable); \
+	else \
+		echo "skipping shellcheck because shellcheck is not installed"; \
 	fi
 
 mancheck:
@@ -89,6 +91,8 @@ mancheck:
 			-o -name 'zpool.8' -o -name 'zdb.8' \
 			-o -name 'zgenhostid.8' | \
 			xargs mandoc -Tlint -Werror; \
+	else \
+		echo "skipping mancheck because mandoc is not installed"; \
 	fi
 
 testscheck:
@@ -107,16 +111,22 @@ cppcheck:
 			--suppressions-list=.github/suppressions.txt \
 			-UHAVE_SSE2 -UHAVE_AVX512F -UHAVE_UIO_ZEROCOPY \
 			-UHAVE_DNLC ${top_srcdir}; \
+	else \
+		echo "skipping cppcheck because cppcheck is not installed"; \
 	fi
 
 paxcheck:
 	@if type scanelf > /dev/null 2>&1; then \
 		${top_srcdir}/scripts/paxcheck.sh ${top_srcdir}; \
+	else \
+		echo "skipping paxcheck because scanelf is not installed"; \
 	fi
 
 flake8:
 	@if type flake8 > /dev/null 2>&1; then \
 		flake8 ${top_srcdir}; \
+	else \
+		echo "skipping flake8 because flake8 is not installed"; \
 	fi
 
 ctags: