diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 01ef4fad0..c1044cde1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ apidocs:
 test: $(TEST_RUN)
 
 sparse:
-	cgcc -no-compile -DSPARSE_IS_RUNNING $(ALL_CFLAGS) $(SPARSE_FLAGS) $(SRC_C)
+	cgcc -no-compile $(ALL_CFLAGS) $(SPARSE_FLAGS) $(SRC_C)
 
 install-headers: $(PUBLIC_HEADERS)
 	@mkdir -p /tmp/gitinc/git
diff --git a/src/git/thread-utils.h b/src/git/thread-utils.h
index 7ce66fdc1..bc4153d7a 100644
--- a/src/git/thread-utils.h
+++ b/src/git/thread-utils.h
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 #endif
 
 /* sparse doesn't grok thread-local variables */
-#ifdef SPARSE_IS_RUNNING
+#if defined(__CHECKER__)
 # undef GIT_HAS_TLS
 # undef GIT_TLS
 # define GIT_TLS