diff --git a/src/tools/compiletest/src/main.rs b/src/tools/compiletest/src/main.rs
index b32a6f08638..1d4b5e1247d 100644
--- a/src/tools/compiletest/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/tools/compiletest/src/main.rs
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ fn main() {
     }
 
     if !config.has_tidy && config.mode == Mode::Rustdoc {
-        eprintln!("warning: `tidy` is not installed; generated diffs will be harder to read");
+        eprintln!("warning: `tidy` is not installed; diffs will not be generated");
     }
 
     log_config(&config);
diff --git a/src/tools/compiletest/src/runtest.rs b/src/tools/compiletest/src/runtest.rs
index 9a82591e5a7..4f5003529a3 100644
--- a/src/tools/compiletest/src/runtest.rs
+++ b/src/tools/compiletest/src/runtest.rs
@@ -2365,6 +2365,9 @@ fn run_rustdoc_test(&self) {
     }
 
     fn compare_to_default_rustdoc(&mut self, out_dir: &Path) {
+        if !self.config.has_tidy {
+            return;
+        }
         println!("info: generating a diff against nightly rustdoc");
 
         let suffix =
@@ -2426,10 +2429,8 @@ fn compare_to_default_rustdoc(&mut self, out_dir: &Path) {
                 }
             }
         };
-        if self.config.has_tidy {
-            tidy_dir(out_dir);
-            tidy_dir(&compare_dir);
-        }
+        tidy_dir(out_dir);
+        tidy_dir(&compare_dir);
 
         let pager = {
             let output = Command::new("git").args(&["config", "--get", "core.pager"]).output().ok();