diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f00039f0b2..1183ba0585 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -174,12 +174,9 @@ ui-build-pkg:
 
 clean:
 	$(GO) clean ./...
-	# build-external was accidentially created as owned by root in earlier versions. This is fixed now,
-	# but we need to fix up old checkouts, since git doesn't track ownership.
-	if [ "$$(stat -c %%U client/build-external)" == "root" ]; then sudo chown "$$USER:$$USER" client/build-external; fi
-	# Don't actually rmi the build images - rm'ing the .uptodate files is enough to ensure
-	# we rebuild the images, and rmi'ing the images causes us to have to redownload a lot of stuff.
-	# $(SUDO) docker rmi $(SCOPE_UI_BUILD_IMAGE) $(SCOPE_BACKEND_BUILD_IMAGE) >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+# Don't actually rmi the build images - rm'ing the .uptodate files is enough to ensure
+# we rebuild the images, and rmi'ing the images causes us to have to redownload a lot of stuff.
+# $(SUDO) docker rmi $(SCOPE_UI_BUILD_IMAGE) $(SCOPE_BACKEND_BUILD_IMAGE) >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
 	rm -rf $(SCOPE_EXPORT) $(SCOPE_UI_BUILD_UPTODATE) $(SCOPE_BACKEND_BUILD_UPTODATE) \
 		$(SCOPE_EXE) $(RUNSVINIT) prog/staticui/staticui.go prog/externalui/externalui.go client/build/*.js client/build-external/*.js docker/weave .pkg \
 		$(CODECGEN_TARGETS) $(CODECGEN_DIR)/bin