diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/dist.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/dist.rs
index 253fa224152cc..7b5393a115a7b 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/dist.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/dist.rs
@@ -2282,6 +2282,10 @@ impl Step for LlvmTools {
             }
         }
 
+        if !builder.config.dry_run() {
+            builder.require_submodule("src/llvm-project", None);
+        }
+
         builder.ensure(crate::core::build_steps::llvm::Llvm { target });
 
         let mut tarball = Tarball::new(builder, "llvm-tools", &target.triple);
@@ -2400,6 +2404,10 @@ impl Step for RustDev {
             }
         }
 
+        if !builder.config.dry_run() {
+            builder.require_submodule("src/llvm-project", None);
+        }
+
         let mut tarball = Tarball::new(builder, "rust-dev", &target.triple);
         tarball.set_overlay(OverlayKind::Llvm);
         // LLVM requires a shared object symlink to exist on some platforms.