diff --git a/lisp/emacs-lisp/loaddefs-gen.el b/lisp/emacs-lisp/loaddefs-gen.el
index 2a46fb7a022..c23f21553d5 100644
--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/loaddefs-gen.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/loaddefs-gen.el
@@ -656,7 +656,17 @@ loaddefs-generate
             (write-region (point-min) (point-max) loaddefs-file nil 'silent)
             (byte-compile-info
              (file-relative-name loaddefs-file (car (ensure-list dir)))
-             t "GEN")))))))
+             t "GEN")))))
+
+    ;; HACK: If no file with autoloads were found, but EXTRA-DATA was
+    ;; passed, we still want to generate a file.
+    (unless (and extra-data (file-exists-p output-file))
+      (with-temp-buffer
+        (insert (loaddefs-generate--rubric output-file nil t))
+        (search-backward "\f")
+        (insert extra-data)
+        (ensure-empty-lines 1)
+        (write-region (point-min) (point-max) output-file nil 'silent)))))
 
 (defun loaddefs-generate--print-form (def)
   "Print DEF in a format that makes sense for version control."