diff --git a/Makefile.inc1 b/Makefile.inc1
--- a/Makefile.inc1
+++ b/Makefile.inc1
@@ -767,7 +767,6 @@
 		BOOTSTRAPPING=${BOOTSTRAPPING_OSRELDATE} \
 		BWPHASE=${.TARGET:C,^_,,} \
 		-DNO_CPU_CFLAGS \
-		-DNO_LINT \
 		-DNO_PIC \
 		-DNO_SHARED \
 		MK_ASAN=no \
@@ -800,7 +799,6 @@
 		BOOTSTRAPPING=${BOOTSTRAPPING_OSRELDATE} \
 		BWPHASE=${.TARGET:C,^_,,} \
 		-DNO_CPU_CFLAGS \
-		-DNO_LINT \
 		MK_ASAN=no \
 		MK_CTF=no \
 		MK_CLANG_EXTRAS=no \
@@ -838,7 +836,6 @@
 		MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX= \
 		BOOTSTRAPPING=${BOOTSTRAPPING_OSRELDATE} \
 		-DNO_CPU_CFLAGS \
-		-DNO_LINT \
 		-DNO_PIC \
 		-DNO_SHARED \
 		MK_CTF=no \
@@ -1223,7 +1220,7 @@
 	@echo ">>> stage 4.2: building libraries"
 	@echo "--------------------------------------------------------------"
 	${_+_}cd ${.CURDIR}; \
-	    ${WMAKE} -DNO_FSCHG MK_HTML=no -DNO_LINT MK_MAN=no \
+	    ${WMAKE} -DNO_FSCHG MK_HTML=no MK_MAN=no \
 	    MK_TESTS=no MK_TESTS_SUPPORT=${MK_TESTS_SUPPORT} \
 	    libraries
 everything: .PHONY
@@ -3717,7 +3714,7 @@
 XDEV_CPUTYPE?=${TARGET_CPUTYPE}
 .endif
 
-NOFUN=-DNO_FSCHG MK_HTML=no -DNO_LINT \
+NOFUN=-DNO_FSCHG MK_HTML=no \
 	MK_MAN=no MK_NLS=no \
 	MK_KERBEROS=no MK_RESCUE=no MK_TESTS=no MK_WERROR=no \
 	TARGET=${TARGET} TARGET_ARCH=${TARGET_ARCH} \
diff --git a/Makefile.libcompat b/Makefile.libcompat
--- a/Makefile.libcompat
+++ b/Makefile.libcompat
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@
 	    OBJROOT='$${OBJTOP}/' \
 	    UNIVERSE_TOOLCHAIN_PATH=${UNIVERSE_TOOLCHAIN_PATH} \
 	    MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX= \
-	    -DNO_LINT \
 	    -DNO_CPU_CFLAGS \
 	    MK_ASAN=no \
 	    MK_CTF=no \
diff --git a/cddl/Makefile.inc b/cddl/Makefile.inc
--- a/cddl/Makefile.inc
+++ b/cddl/Makefile.inc
@@ -5,8 +5,3 @@
 
 CFLAGS+=	-DNEED_SOLARIS_BOOLEAN
 CFLAGS+=	-DHAVE_STRLCAT -DHAVE_STRLCPY
-
-# Do not lint the CDDL stuff. It is all externally maintained and
-# lint output is wasteful noise here.
-
-NO_LINT=
diff --git a/gnu/Makefile.inc b/gnu/Makefile.inc
--- a/gnu/Makefile.inc
+++ b/gnu/Makefile.inc
@@ -1,4 +1 @@
-# Do not lint the GNU stuff. It is all externally maintained and
-# lint output is wasteful noise here.
-
-NO_LINT=
+# This file is empty to prevent infinite recursion in */Makefile.inc
diff --git a/kerberos5/Makefile.inc b/kerberos5/Makefile.inc
--- a/kerberos5/Makefile.inc
+++ b/kerberos5/Makefile.inc
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 .include <src.opts.mk>
 
-NO_LINT=
-
 KRB5DIR=	${SRCTOP}/crypto/heimdal
 
 CFLAGS+=	-DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I${.CURDIR:H:H}/include
diff --git a/lib/ncurses/ncurses/Makefile b/lib/ncurses/ncurses/Makefile
--- a/lib/ncurses/ncurses/Makefile
+++ b/lib/ncurses/ncurses/Makefile
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@
 LIB=		ncursesw
 SHLIB_MAJOR=	9
 
-NO_LINT=
-
 GENSRCS=	\
 	expanded.c \
 	lib_gen.c
diff --git a/lib/ncurses/tinfo/Makefile b/lib/ncurses/tinfo/Makefile
--- a/lib/ncurses/tinfo/Makefile
+++ b/lib/ncurses/tinfo/Makefile
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@
 LIB=		tinfow
 SHLIB_MAJOR=	9
 
-NO_LINT=
-
 NCURSES_MAJOR!=	egrep 'NCURSES_MAJOR[ 	]*=' ${NCURSES_DIR}/dist.mk | sed -e 's%^[^0-9]*%%'
 NCURSES_MINOR!=	egrep 'NCURSES_MINOR[ 	]*=' ${NCURSES_DIR}/dist.mk | sed -e 's%^[^0-9]*%%'
 NCURSES_PATCH!=	egrep 'NCURSES_PATCH[ 	]*=' ${NCURSES_DIR}/dist.mk | sed -e 's%^[^0-9]*%%'
diff --git a/secure/lib/libcrypto/Makefile b/secure/lib/libcrypto/Makefile
--- a/secure/lib/libcrypto/Makefile
+++ b/secure/lib/libcrypto/Makefile
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 SHLIB_MAJOR=	30
 VERSION_MAP=	${.CURDIR}/Version.map
 
-NO_LINT=
 PCFILES=	libcrypto.pc
 
 .include "Makefile.man"
diff --git a/secure/lib/libssh/Makefile b/secure/lib/libssh/Makefile
--- a/secure/lib/libssh/Makefile
+++ b/secure/lib/libssh/Makefile
@@ -65,8 +65,6 @@
 CFLAGS+= -D_PATH_SSH_ASKPASS_DEFAULT='"${LOCALBASE}/bin/ssh-askpass"'
 .endif
 
-NO_LINT=
-
 LIBADD+=	crypto crypt z
 
 .include <bsd.lib.mk>
diff --git a/secure/lib/libssl/Makefile b/secure/lib/libssl/Makefile
--- a/secure/lib/libssl/Makefile
+++ b/secure/lib/libssl/Makefile
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 VERSION_MAP=	${.CURDIR}/Version.map
 PACKAGE=	openssl-lib
 
-NO_LINT=
-
 PCFILES=	libssl.pc openssl.pc
 
 .include "../libcrypto/Makefile.inc"
diff --git a/targets/pseudo/bootstrap-tools/Makefile b/targets/pseudo/bootstrap-tools/Makefile
--- a/targets/pseudo/bootstrap-tools/Makefile
+++ b/targets/pseudo/bootstrap-tools/Makefile
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
 		BOOTSTRAPPING=${OSRELDATE} \
 		BWPHASE=${.TARGET} \
 		-DNO_CPU_CFLAGS \
-		-DNO_LINT \
 		-DNO_PIC \
 		-DNO_SHARED \
 		MK_CTF=no \