diff --git a/tools/checkpatch.sh b/tools/checkpatch.sh
index 0a630a248..7375fc2b6 100755
--- a/tools/checkpatch.sh
+++ b/tools/checkpatch.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
 
 since=${1:-HEAD^}
-git format-patch -M --stdout $since | tools/scripts/checkpatch.pl -
+tools/scripts/checkpatch.pl --git ${since}..