diff --git a/linux-tkg-config/prepare b/linux-tkg-config/prepare
index d22fa56..3e3925c 100644
--- a/linux-tkg-config/prepare
+++ b/linux-tkg-config/prepare
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ _tkg_srcprep() {
     echo "" > localversion.20-pkgname
 
     # add upstream patch
-    if [ "$_sub" != "0" ]; then
+    if [ "$_sub" != "0" ] && [[ "$_sub" != rc* ]]; then
       msg2 "Patching from $_basekernel to $pkgver"
       if [ ! -e "$srcdir/patch-${pkgver}" ]; then
         ( cd "$_where" && xz -dk patch-${pkgver}.xz && mv "$_where"/patch-${pkgver} "$srcdir"/ )