diff --git a/build.py b/build.py
index 3349b31c0c..1e5ff4cf19 100755
--- a/build.py
+++ b/build.py
@@ -152,7 +152,12 @@ def build_src_internal_types_js(t):
 virtual('build-examples', 'examples', (path.replace('.html', '.combined.js') for path in EXAMPLES))
 
 
-virtual('examples', 'examples/example-list.js', (path.replace('.html', '.json') for path in EXAMPLES))
+virtual('examples', 'examples/example-list.xml', (path.replace('.html', '.json') for path in EXAMPLES))
+
+
+@target('examples/example-list.xml', 'examples/example-list.js')
+def examples_examples_list_xml(t):
+    t.touch()  # already generated by bin/exampleparser.py
 
 
 @target('examples/example-list.js', 'bin/exampleparser.py', EXAMPLES)