diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9d434993cc..7e16da94d9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -485,8 +485,12 @@ $(obj)u-boot.sha1:	$(obj)u-boot.bin
 $(obj)u-boot.dis:	$(obj)u-boot
 		$(OBJDUMP) -d $< > $@
 
+
+
 $(obj)u-boot-with-spl.bin: $(obj)spl/u-boot-spl.bin $(obj)u-boot.bin
-		$(OBJCOPY) ${OBJCFLAGS} --pad-to=$(PAD_TO) -O binary $(obj)spl/u-boot-spl $(obj)spl/u-boot-spl-pad.bin
+		$(OBJCOPY) ${OBJCFLAGS} --pad-to=$(or $(CONFIG_SPL_PAD_TO),0) \
+			-O binary $(obj)spl/u-boot-spl \
+			$(obj)spl/u-boot-spl-pad.bin
 		cat $(obj)spl/u-boot-spl-pad.bin $(obj)u-boot.bin > $@
 		rm $(obj)spl/u-boot-spl-pad.bin
 
diff --git a/README b/README
index b5c1c0377b..5105e64a38 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -2836,6 +2836,10 @@ FIT uImage format:
 		CONFIG_SPL_LIBGENERIC_SUPPORT
 		Support for lib/libgeneric.o in SPL binary
 
+		CONFIG_SPL_PAD_TO
+		Linker address to which the SPL should be padded before
+		appending the SPL payload.
+
 		CONFIG_SPL_TARGET
 		Final target image containing SPL and payload.  Some SPLs
 		use an arch-specific makefile fragment instead, for
diff --git a/board/ait/cam_enc_4xx/config.mk b/board/ait/cam_enc_4xx/config.mk
index 744b927f1e..c280029a36 100644
--- a/board/ait/cam_enc_4xx/config.mk
+++ b/board/ait/cam_enc_4xx/config.mk
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 #
 
 #Provide at least 16MB spacing between us and the Linux Kernel image
-PAD_TO	:= 12320
+CONFIG_SPL_PAD_TO := 12320
 UBL_CONFIG = $(SRCTREE)/board/$(BOARDDIR)/ublimage.cfg
 ifndef CONFIG_SPL_BUILD
 ALL-y += $(obj)u-boot.ubl