diff --git a/Common.mk b/Common.mk
index 1bea2c0c44..a48ade1253 100644
--- a/Common.mk
+++ b/Common.mk
@@ -437,23 +437,6 @@ BUILD_TARGETS?=github-rate-limit-pre validate-checksums attribution $(if $(IMAGE
 RELEASE_TARGETS?=validate-checksums $(if $(IMAGE_NAMES),images,) $(if $(filter true,$(HAS_HELM_CHART)),helm/push,) $(if $(filter true,$(HAS_S3_ARTIFACTS)),upload-artifacts,)
 ####################################################
 
-# Locale settings impact file ordering in ls or shell file expansion. The file order is used to
-# generate files that are subsequently validated by the CI. If local environments use different 
-# locales to the CI we get unexpected failures that are tricky to debug without knowledge of 
-# locales so we'll explicitly warn here.
-# In a AL2 container image (like builder base), LANG will be empty which is equilvant to posix
-# In a AL2 (or other distro) full instance the LANG will be en-us.UTF-8 which produces different sorts
-# On Mac, LANG will be en-us.UTF-8 but has a fix applied to sort to avoid the difference
-ifeq ($(shell uname -s),Linux)
-  LOCALE:=$(call TO_LOWER,$(shell locale | grep LANG | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"'))
-  LOCALE:=$(if $(LOCALE),$(LOCALE),posix)
-  ifeq ($(filter c.utf-8 posix,$(LOCALE)),)
-    $(warning WARNING: Environment locale set to $(LANG). On Linux systems this may create \
-	non-deterministic behavior when running generation recipes. If the CI fails validation try \
-	`LANG=C.UTF-8 make <recipe>` to generate files instead.)
-  endif
-endif
-
 define BUILDCTL
 	$(BUILD_LIB)/buildkit.sh \
 		build \
@@ -621,7 +604,7 @@ $(OUTPUT_DIR)/%TTRIBUTION.txt:
 $(OUTPUT_DIR)/%ttribution/go-license.csv: BINARY_TARGET=$(if $(filter .,$(*D)),,$(*D))
 $(OUTPUT_DIR)/%ttribution/go-license.csv: GO_MOD_PATH=$(if $(BINARY_TARGET),$(GO_MOD_TARGET_FOR_BINARY_$(call TO_UPPER,$(BINARY_TARGET))),$(word 1,$(UNIQ_GO_MOD_PATHS)))
 $(OUTPUT_DIR)/%ttribution/go-license.csv: LICENSE_PACKAGE_FILTER=$(GO_MOD_$(subst /,_,$(GO_MOD_PATH))_LICENSE_PACKAGE_FILTER)
-$(OUTPUT_DIR)/%ttribution/go-license.csv: $$(call GO_MOD_DOWNLOAD_TARGET_FROM_GO_MOD_PATH,$$(GO_MOD_PATH))	
+$(OUTPUT_DIR)/%ttribution/go-license.csv: $$(call GO_MOD_DOWNLOAD_TARGET_FROM_GO_MOD_PATH,$$(GO_MOD_PATH))
 	@echo -e $(call TARGET_START_LOG)
 	$(BASE_DIRECTORY)/build/lib/gather_licenses.sh $(REPO) $(MAKE_ROOT)/$(OUTPUT_DIR)/$(BINARY_TARGET) "$(LICENSE_PACKAGE_FILTER)" $(GO_MOD_PATH) $(GOLANG_VERSION) $(LICENSE_THRESHOLD)
 	@echo -e $(call TARGET_END_LOG)
@@ -913,7 +896,7 @@ stop-docker-builder: # Clean up builder base docker container
 	docker rm -f -v eks-a-builder
 
 .PHONY: generate
-generate: # Update UPSTREAM_PROJECTS.yaml
+generate: | ensure-locale # Update UPSTREAM_PROJECTS.yaml
 	$(BUILD_LIB)/generate_projects_list.sh $(BASE_DIRECTORY)
 
 .PHONY: update-go-mods
@@ -988,6 +971,24 @@ github-rate-limit-%:
 		GH_PAGER='' gh api rate_limit; \
 	fi
 
+# Locale settings impact file ordering in ls or shell file expansion. The file order is used to
+# generate files that are subsequently validated by the CI. If local environments use different 
+# locales to the CI we get unexpected failures that are tricky to debug without knowledge of 
+# locales so we'll explicitly warn here.
+# In a AL2 container image (like builder base), LANG will be empty which is equivalent to posix
+# In a AL2 (or other distro) full instance the LANG will be en-us.UTF-8 which produces different sorts
+# On Mac, LANG will be en-us.UTF-8 but has a fix applied to sort to avoid the difference
+.PHONY: ensure-locale
+ensure-locale:
+	@if [ "Linux" = "$$(uname -s)" ]; then \
+		LOCALE=$$(locale | grep LANG | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"' | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'); \
+		if [[ "c.utf-8 posix" != *"$${LOCALE:-posix}"* ]]; then \
+			echo WARNING: Environment locale set to $(LANG). On Linux systems this may create \
+				non-deterministic behavior when running generation recipes. If the CI fails validation try \
+				exporting LANG=C.UTF-8 to generate files instead.; \
+		fi; \
+	fi
+
 ## --------------------------------------
 ## Docker Helpers
 ## --------------------------------------
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 314b73c903..7128b826a4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -13,22 +13,6 @@ ALL_PROJECTS=$(shell $(BUILD_LIB)/all_projects.sh $(BASE_DIRECTORY))
 # $1 - project name using _ as separator, ex: rancher_local-path-provisoner
 PROJECT_PATH_MAP=projects/$(patsubst $(firstword $(subst _, ,$(1)))_%,$(firstword $(subst _, ,$(1)))/%,$(1))
 
-# Locale settings impact file ordering in ls or shell file expansion. The file order is used to
-# generate files that are subsequently validated by the CI. If local environments use different 
-# locales to the CI we get unexpected failures that are tricky to debug without knowledge of 
-# locales so we'll explicitly warn here.
-# In a AL2 container image (like builder base), LANG will be empty which is equivalent to posix
-# In a AL2 (or other distro) full instance the LANG will be en-us.UTF-8 which produces different sorts
-# On Mac, LANG will be en-us.UTF-8 but has a fix applied to sort to avoid the difference
-ifeq ($(shell uname -s),Linux)
-  LOCALE:=$(call TO_LOWER,$(shell locale | grep LANG | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"'))
-  LOCALE:=$(if $(LOCALE),$(LOCALE),posix)
-  ifeq ($(filter c.utf-8 posix,$(LOCALE)),)
-    $(warning WARNING: Environment locale set to $(LANG). On Linux systems this may create \
-	non-deterministic behavior when running generation recipes. If the CI fails validation try \
-	`LANG=C.UTF-8 make <recipe>` to generate files instead.)
-  endif
-endif
 
 .PHONY: clean-project-%
 clean-project-%:
@@ -86,11 +70,11 @@ stop-buildkit-and-registry:
 	docker rm -v --force registry
 
 .PHONY: generate-project-list
-generate-project-list:
+generate-project-list: | ensure-locale
 	build/lib/generate_projects_list.sh $(BASE_DIRECTORY)
 
 .PHONY: generate-staging-buildspec
-generate-staging-buildspec:
+generate-staging-buildspec: | ensure-locale
 	build/lib/generate_staging_buildspec.sh $(BASE_DIRECTORY) "$(ALL_PROJECTS)" "$(BASE_DIRECTORY)/release/staging-build.yml"
 	build/lib/generate_staging_buildspec.sh $(BASE_DIRECTORY) "$(ALL_PROJECTS)" "$(BASE_DIRECTORY)/release/checksums-build.yml" true EXCLUDE_FROM_CHECKSUMS_BUILDSPEC CHECKSUMS_BUILDSPECS false buildspecs/checksums-pr-buildspec.yml
 	build/lib/generate_staging_buildspec.sh $(BASE_DIRECTORY) "aws_bottlerocket-bootstrap" "$(BASE_DIRECTORY)/projects/aws/bottlerocket-bootstrap/buildspecs/batch-build.yml" true
@@ -122,3 +106,21 @@ check-project-path-exists:
 .PHONY: validate-eksd-releases
 validate-eksd-releases:
 	build/lib/validate_eksd_releases.sh
+
+# Locale settings impact file ordering in ls or shell file expansion. The file order is used to
+# generate files that are subsequently validated by the CI. If local environments use different 
+# locales to the CI we get unexpected failures that are tricky to debug without knowledge of 
+# locales so we'll explicitly warn here.
+# In a AL2 container image (like builder base), LANG will be empty which is equivalent to posix
+# In a AL2 (or other distro) full instance the LANG will be en-us.UTF-8 which produces different sorts
+# On Mac, LANG will be en-us.UTF-8 but has a fix applied to sort to avoid the difference
+.PHONY: ensure-locale
+ensure-locale:
+	@if [ "Linux" = "$$(uname -s)" ]; then \
+		LOCALE=$$(locale | grep LANG | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"' | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'); \
+		if [[ "c.utf-8 posix" != *"$${LOCALE:-posix}"* ]]; then \
+			echo WARNING: Environment locale set to $(LANG). On Linux systems this may create \
+				non-deterministic behavior when running generation recipes. If the CI fails validation try \
+				exporting LANG=C.UTF-8 to generate files instead.; \
+		fi; \
+	fi