diff --git a/general/scripts/rootfs_script.sh b/general/scripts/rootfs_script.sh
index d99501e51..3a90465e3 100755
--- a/general/scripts/rootfs_script.sh
+++ b/general/scripts/rootfs_script.sh
@@ -35,6 +35,15 @@ if grep -q "USES_MUSL=y" ${BR2_CONFIG}; then
 	done
 fi
 
+# depmod writes a binary index beside every text one, plus
+# modules.builtin.modinfo, for kmod. Every board here runs busybox modprobe,
+# which reads modules.dep, modules.alias, modules.symbols and modules.builtin as
+# text and never opens the rest: 52KB on hi3516cv6xx, 12KB of squashfs, enough
+# to bring its lite board back under the cap. Kept wherever kmod is installed.
+if [ -z "$(find ${TARGET_DIR}/bin ${TARGET_DIR}/sbin ${TARGET_DIR}/usr/bin ${TARGET_DIR}/usr/sbin -name kmod -type f 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
+	rm -f ${TARGET_DIR}/lib/modules/*/modules.*.bin ${TARGET_DIR}/lib/modules/*/modules.builtin.modinfo
+fi
+
 LIST="${BR2_EXTERNAL_GENERAL_PATH}/scripts/excludes/${OPENIPC_SOC_MODEL}_${OPENIPC_VARIANT}.list"
 if [ -f "${LIST}" ]; then
 	# These lists name files by hand, so they go stale in one direction without