diff --git a/sys/unix/setup.sh b/sys/unix/setup.sh
index 5c210264c..043bf90d4 100755
--- a/sys/unix/setup.sh
+++ b/sys/unix/setup.sh
@@ -23,14 +23,14 @@ x)      hints=/dev/null
         ;;
 *)      hints=$prefix/$1
 	hfile=$1
+	    # sanity check
+	if [ ! -f "$hints" ]; then
+	    echo "Cannot find hints file $hfile"
+	    exit 1
+	fi
         ;;
 esac
 
-if [ ! -f "$hints" ]; then
-    echo "Cannot find hints file $hfile"
-    exit 1
-fi
-
 /bin/sh ./mkmkfile.sh Makefile.top TOP ../../Makefile $hints $hfile
 /bin/sh ./mkmkfile.sh Makefile.dat DAT ../../dat/Makefile $hints $hfile
 /bin/sh ./mkmkfile.sh Makefile.doc DOC ../../doc/Makefile $hints $hfile