diff --git a/tools/net/ynl/Makefile b/tools/net/ynl/Makefile
index da1aa10bbcc3..1874296665e1 100644
--- a/tools/net/ynl/Makefile
+++ b/tools/net/ynl/Makefile
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ $(SUBDIRS):
 		$(MAKE) -C $@ ; \
 	fi
 
-clean hardclean:
+clean distclean:
 	@for dir in $(SUBDIRS) ; do \
 		if [ -f "$$dir/Makefile" ] ; then \
 			$(MAKE) -C $$dir $@; \
diff --git a/tools/net/ynl/generated/Makefile b/tools/net/ynl/generated/Makefile
index 7135028cb449..713f5fb9cc2d 100644
--- a/tools/net/ynl/generated/Makefile
+++ b/tools/net/ynl/generated/Makefile
@@ -43,11 +43,11 @@ protos.a: $(OBJS)
 clean:
 	rm -f *.o
 
-hardclean: clean
+distclean: clean
 	rm -f *.c *.h *.a
 
 regen:
 	@../ynl-regen.sh
 
-.PHONY: all clean hardclean regen
+.PHONY: all clean distclean regen
 .DEFAULT_GOAL: all
diff --git a/tools/net/ynl/lib/Makefile b/tools/net/ynl/lib/Makefile
index d2e50fd0a52d..2201dafc62b3 100644
--- a/tools/net/ynl/lib/Makefile
+++ b/tools/net/ynl/lib/Makefile
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ ynl.a: $(OBJS)
 clean:
 	rm -f *.o *.d *~
 
-hardclean: clean
+distclean: clean
 	rm -f *.a
 
 %.o: %.c
diff --git a/tools/net/ynl/samples/Makefile b/tools/net/ynl/samples/Makefile
index 1d33e98e3ffe..3e81432f7b27 100644
--- a/tools/net/ynl/samples/Makefile
+++ b/tools/net/ynl/samples/Makefile
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ $(BINS): ../lib/ynl.a ../generated/protos.a $(SRCS)
 clean:
 	rm -f *.o *.d *~
 
-hardclean: clean
+distclean: clean
 	rm -f $(BINS)
 
 .PHONY: all clean