diff --git a/scripts/get_maintainer.pl b/scripts/get_maintainer.pl
index 19854f51c8f37..3e733146cd51c 100755
--- a/scripts/get_maintainer.pl
+++ b/scripts/get_maintainer.pl
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@
 	}
 	close(PATCH);
 	if ($file_cnt == @files) {
-	    die "$P: file '${file}' doesn't appear to be a patch.  "
+	    warn "$P: file '${file}' doesn't appear to be a patch.  "
 		. "Add -f to options?\n";
 	}
 	@files = sort_and_uniq(@files);