diff --git a/cmake/modules/RootMacros.cmake b/cmake/modules/RootMacros.cmake
index ca87a42186965..864f5f6c81a2d 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/RootMacros.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/RootMacros.cmake
@@ -685,10 +685,10 @@ function(ROOT_GENERATE_DICTIONARY dictionary)
   endforeach()
 
   #---build the implicit dependencies arguments
-  # NOTE: DEPFILE is used instead of IMPLICIT_DEPENDS because IMPLICIT_DEPENDS
-  # only works with Unix Makefiles and has issues with cross-directory dependencies.
-  # DEPFILE works with all generators (Ninja, Unix Makefiles, etc.)
-  set(depfile_path ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${dictionary}.depfile)
+  # NOTE: only the Makefile generator respects this!
+  foreach(_dep ${_linkdef} ${_list_of_header_dependencies})
+    list(APPEND _implicitdeps CXX ${_dep})
+  endforeach()
 
   if(ARG_MODULE)
     set(MODULE_LIB_DEPENDENCY ${ARG_DEPENDENCIES})
@@ -741,8 +741,7 @@ function(ROOT_GENERATE_DICTIONARY dictionary)
                        # make the dictionary generation command depend on the C++ standard, ensuring that the
                        # dictionaries will be rebuilt if the C++ standard is changed in an incremental build.
                        -DR__DUMMY_CXX_STANDARD_${CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD}
-                       -MF ${depfile_path}
-    DEPFILE ${depfile_path}
+    IMPLICIT_DEPENDS ${_implicitdeps}
     DEPENDS ${_list_of_header_dependencies} ${_linkdef} ${ROOTCLINGDEP}
             ${pcm_dependencies}
             ${MODULE_LIB_DEPENDENCY} ${ARG_EXTRA_DEPENDENCIES}
diff --git a/core/dictgen/src/rootcling_impl.cxx b/core/dictgen/src/rootcling_impl.cxx
index d2ae3ec534233..caf295b27f703 100644
--- a/core/dictgen/src/rootcling_impl.cxx
+++ b/core/dictgen/src/rootcling_impl.cxx
@@ -3709,10 +3709,6 @@ static llvm::cl::list<std::string>
 gOptWDiags("W", llvm::cl::Prefix, llvm::cl::ZeroOrMore,
           llvm::cl::desc("Specify compiler diagnostics options."),
           llvm::cl::cat(gRootclingOptions));
-static llvm::cl::opt<std::string>
-gOptDepFile("MF",
-            llvm::cl::desc("Write dependency output to the specified file."),
-            llvm::cl::cat(gRootclingOptions));
 // Really OneOrMore, will be changed in RootClingMain below.
 static llvm::cl::list<std::string>
 gOptDictionaryHeaderFiles(llvm::cl::Positional, llvm::cl::ZeroOrMore,
@@ -4521,11 +4517,6 @@ int RootClingMain(int argc,
    // Check if code goes to stdout or rootcling file
    std::ofstream fileout;
    string main_dictname(gOptDictionaryFileName.getValue());
-   // Keep the original dictionary output file name (with extension) for the
-   // dependency file target: `main_dictname` gets its extension stripped below
-   // and `gOptDictionaryFileName` is turned into a temporary name by the
-   // tmpCatalog a few lines down.
-   const std::string dictOutputFileName(gOptDictionaryFileName.getValue());
    std::ostream *splitDictStream = nullptr;
    std::unique_ptr<std::ostream> splitDeleter(nullptr);
    // Store the temp files
@@ -5008,93 +4999,6 @@ int RootClingMain(int argc,
    // make sure the file is closed before committing
    fileout.close();
 
-   // Write the dependency file if requested (-MF <file>). It uses the
-   // Makefile format understood by CMake's DEPFILE and Ninja's "deps = gcc",
-   // listing every real header that was opened while generating the dictionary
-   // so that incremental builds pick up changes to transitively included files.
-   if (!gOptDepFile.empty() && rootclingRetCode == 0 && !dictOutputFileName.empty()) {
-      std::ofstream depFile(gOptDepFile.c_str());
-      if (!depFile) {
-         ROOT::TMetaUtils::Error(nullptr,
-                                 "rootcling: failed to open dependency file %s\n",
-                                 gOptDepFile.c_str());
-         rootclingRetCode = 1;
-      } else {
-         // Escape a path for the Makefile-format dependency file: forward
-         // slashes (needed on Windows) and backslash-escape the characters that
-         // are special to make (space, tab, '#', ':').
-         auto escapeForDepFile = [](std::string path) {
-            std::replace(path.begin(), path.end(), '\\', '/');
-            std::string escaped;
-            escaped.reserve(path.size());
-            for (char c : path) {
-               if (c == ' ' || c == '\t' || c == '#' || c == ':')
-                  escaped += '\\';
-               escaped += c;
-            }
-            return escaped;
-         };
-
-         // The target is the final dictionary source file. Note that
-         // gOptDictionaryFileName has been turned into a temporary name by the
-         // tmpCatalog, so we use the original name captured earlier.
-         depFile << escapeForDepFile(dictOutputFileName) << ":";
-
-         // Collect all files that were read by clang during dictionary
-         // generation (headers included directly or indirectly).
-         clang::SourceManager &SM = CI->getSourceManager();
-         clang::FileManager &FM = SM.getFileManager();
-
-         llvm::SmallVector<clang::OptionalFileEntryRef, 64> files;
-         FM.GetUniqueIDMapping(files);
-
-         std::set<std::string> includedFiles;
-         for (const auto &FEOpt : files) {
-            if (!FEOpt)
-               continue;
-            llvm::StringRef filename = FEOpt->getName();
-            if (filename.empty())
-               continue;
-            // Skip cling's in-memory buffers, which the FileManager also
-            // reports: "input_line_N", "<<< cling interactive line includer >>>",
-            // "<built-in>", "<command line>", ... These are not real files;
-            // some contain spaces or angle brackets that would corrupt the
-            // dependency file, and all of them would make the dictionary appear
-            // perpetually out of date. Requiring the entry to exist on disk
-            // filters them out (together with the explicit angle-bracket check).
-            if (filename.contains('<') || filename.contains('>'))
-               continue;
-            // Make the path absolute so it is unambiguous regardless of the
-            // working directory: rootcling may run from a different directory
-            // than the one the dependency file is later consumed from (with
-            // CMP0116 OLD the depfile is not rewritten, and a relative entry
-            // like "./Foo.hxx" would be resolved against the wrong base and
-            // leave the dictionary permanently out of date).
-            llvm::SmallString<256> absPath(filename);
-            llvm::sys::fs::make_absolute(absPath);
-            if (!llvm::sys::fs::exists(absPath))
-               continue;
-            std::string filenameStr(absPath.str());
-            // Skip the output dictionary file itself (final or temporary name).
-            if (filenameStr == dictOutputFileName || filenameStr == gOptDictionaryFileName.getValue())
-               continue;
-            includedFiles.insert(std::move(filenameStr));
-         }
-
-         // Each dependency line except the last ends with a backslash.
-         for (const auto &file : includedFiles)
-            depFile << " \\\n  " << escapeForDepFile(file);
-         if (!includedFiles.empty())
-            depFile << "\n";
-
-         depFile.close();
-         if (!depFile.good()) {
-            ROOT::TMetaUtils::Error(nullptr, "rootcling: failed to write dependency file %s\n", gOptDepFile.c_str());
-            rootclingRetCode = 1;
-         }
-      }
-   }
-
    // Before returning, rename the files if no errors occurred
    // otherwise clean them to avoid remnants (see ROOT-10015)
    if(rootclingRetCode == 0) {