diff --git a/Makefile.generated_files b/Makefile.generated_files
index f140b52745c..fe21e394ff1 100644
--- a/Makefile.generated_files
+++ b/Makefile.generated_files
@@ -108,24 +108,11 @@ generated_files: gen_deepcopy gen_conversion
 ifeq ($(DBG_MAKEFILE),1)
     $(warning ***** finding all *.go dirs)
 endif
-ALL_GO_DIRS := $(shell             \
-    find .                         \
-        -not \(                    \
-            \(                     \
-                -path ./vendor -o  \
-                -path ./_\* -o     \
-                -path ./.\* -o     \
-                -path ./docs -o    \
-                -path ./examples   \
-            \) -prune              \
-        \)                         \
-        -type f -name \*.go        \
-        | sed 's|^./||'            \
-        | xargs -n1 dirname        \
-        | sort -u                  \
+ALL_GO_DIRS := $(shell                                                   \
+    hack/make-rules/helpers/cache_go_dirs.sh $(META_DIR)/all_go_dirs.mk  \
 )
 
-# The name of the make metadata file listing Go files.
+# The name of the metadata file which lists *.go files in each pkg.
 GOFILES_META := gofiles.mk
 
 # Establish a dependency between the deps file and the dir.  Whenever a dir
@@ -314,7 +301,7 @@ CONVERSION_FILENAME := $(CONVERSION_BASENAME).go
 # The tool used to generate conversions.
 CONVERSION_GEN := $(BIN_DIR)/conversion-gen
 
-# The name of the make metadata file controlling conversions.
+# The name of the metadata file listing conversion peers for each pkg.
 CONVERSIONS_META := conversions.mk
 
 # All directories that request any form of conversion generation.
diff --git a/hack/make-rules/helpers/cache_go_dirs.sh b/hack/make-rules/helpers/cache_go_dirs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..133a2d22fa6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/make-rules/helpers/cache_go_dirs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2014 The Kubernetes Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# This script finds, caches, and prints a list of all directories that hold
+# *.go files.  If any directory is newer than the cache, re-find everything and
+# update the cache.  Otherwise use the cached file.
+
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+if [[ -z "${1:-}" ]]; then
+    echo "usage: $0 <cache-file>"
+    exit 1
+fi
+CACHE="$1"; shift
+
+# This is a partial 'find' command.  The caller is expected to pass the
+# remaining arguments.
+#
+# Example:
+#   kfind -type f -name foobar.go
+function kfind() {
+    find .                         \
+        -not \(                    \
+            \(                     \
+                -path ./vendor -o  \
+                -path ./_\* -o     \
+                -path ./.\* -o     \
+                -path ./docs -o    \
+                -path ./examples   \
+            \) -prune              \
+        \)                         \
+        "$@"
+}
+
+NEED_FIND=true
+# It's *significantly* faster to check whether any directories are newer than
+# the cache than to blindly rebuild it.
+if [[ -f "${CACHE}" ]]; then
+    N=$(kfind -type d -newer "${CACHE}" -print -quit | wc -l)
+    [[ "${N}" == 0 ]] && NEED_FIND=false
+fi
+mkdir -p $(dirname "${CACHE}")
+if $("${NEED_FIND}"); then
+    kfind -type f -name \*.go  \
+        | xargs -n1 dirname    \
+        | sort -u              \
+        | sed 's|^./||'        \
+        > "${CACHE}"
+fi
+cat "${CACHE}"