diff --git a/Source/cmNinjaNormalTargetGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmNinjaNormalTargetGenerator.cxx
index 1e8372243..7644df339 100644
--- a/Source/cmNinjaNormalTargetGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmNinjaNormalTargetGenerator.cxx
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ static int calculateCommandLineLengthLimit(int linkRuleLength)
   size_t const arrSz = cmArraySize(limits);
   int const sz = *std::min_element(limits, limits + arrSz);
   if (sz == std::numeric_limits<int>::max()) {
-    return -1;
+    return 0;
   }
 
   return sz - linkRuleLength;