diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/.gitignore b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/.gitignore
index 1d14e3ab70be..ec464859c6b6 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/.gitignore
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/.gitignore
@@ -29,8 +29,6 @@ test_tcpnotify_user
 test_libbpf
 test_tcp_check_syncookie_user
 test_sysctl
-libbpf.pc
-libbpf.so.*
 test_hashmap
 test_btf_dump
 xdping
@@ -39,4 +37,4 @@ test_cpp
 /no_alu32
 /bpf_gcc
 /tools
-bpf_helper_defs.h
+
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
index 2cd91e0524cf..be8fe404a086 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ CLANG		?= clang
 LLC		?= llc
 LLVM_OBJCOPY	?= llvm-objcopy
 BPF_GCC		?= $(shell command -v bpf-gcc;)
-CFLAGS += -g -Wall -O2 $(GENFLAGS) -I$(CURDIR) -I$(APIDIR) -I$(LIBDIR)  \
-	  -I$(BPFDIR) -I$(GENDIR) -I$(TOOLSINCDIR)			\
+CFLAGS += -g -Wall -O2 $(GENFLAGS) -I$(CURDIR) -I$(APIDIR)		\
+	  -I$(INCLUDE_DIR) -I$(GENDIR) -I$(LIBDIR) -I$(TOOLSINCDIR)	\
 	  -Dbpf_prog_load=bpf_prog_test_load				\
 	  -Dbpf_load_program=bpf_test_load_program
 LDLIBS += -lcap -lelf -lz -lrt -lpthread
@@ -97,11 +97,15 @@ OVERRIDE_TARGETS := 1
 override define CLEAN
 	$(call msg,CLEAN)
 	$(RM) -r $(TEST_GEN_PROGS) $(TEST_GEN_PROGS_EXTENDED) $(TEST_GEN_FILES) $(EXTRA_CLEAN)
-	$(MAKE) -C $(BPFDIR) OUTPUT=$(OUTPUT)/ clean
 endef
 
 include ../lib.mk
 
+SCRATCH_DIR := $(OUTPUT)/tools
+BUILD_DIR := $(SCRATCH_DIR)/build
+INCLUDE_DIR := $(SCRATCH_DIR)/include
+BPFOBJ := $(BUILD_DIR)/libbpf/libbpf.a
+
 # Define simple and short `make test_progs`, `make test_sysctl`, etc targets
 # to build individual tests.
 # NOTE: Semicolon at the end is critical to override lib.mk's default static
@@ -120,7 +124,7 @@ $(OUTPUT)/urandom_read: urandom_read.c
 	$(call msg,BINARY,,$@)
 	$(CC) -o $@ $< -Wl,--build-id
 
-$(OUTPUT)/test_stub.o: test_stub.c
+$(OUTPUT)/test_stub.o: test_stub.c $(BPFOBJ)
 	$(call msg,CC,,$@)
 	$(CC) -c $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
@@ -128,12 +132,10 @@ VMLINUX_BTF_PATHS := $(abspath ../../../../vmlinux)			\
 			       /sys/kernel/btf/vmlinux			\
 			       /boot/vmlinux-$(shell uname -r)
 VMLINUX_BTF:= $(firstword $(wildcard $(VMLINUX_BTF_PATHS)))
-.PHONY: $(OUTPUT)/runqslower
-$(OUTPUT)/runqslower: force
+$(OUTPUT)/runqslower: $(BPFOBJ)
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(TOOLSDIR)/bpf/runqslower	\
-		    OUTPUT=$(OUTPUT)/tools/ VMLINUX_BTF=$(VMLINUX_BTF)
-
-BPFOBJ := $(OUTPUT)/libbpf.a
+		    OUTPUT=$(SCRATCH_DIR)/ VMLINUX_BTF=$(VMLINUX_BTF)   \
+		    BPFOBJ=$(BPFOBJ) BPF_INCLUDE=$(INCLUDE_DIR)
 
 $(TEST_GEN_PROGS) $(TEST_GEN_PROGS_EXTENDED): $(OUTPUT)/test_stub.o $(BPFOBJ)
 
@@ -151,25 +153,22 @@ $(OUTPUT)/test_netcnt: cgroup_helpers.c
 $(OUTPUT)/test_sock_fields: cgroup_helpers.c
 $(OUTPUT)/test_sysctl: cgroup_helpers.c
 
-.PHONY: force
-
-# force a rebuild of BPFOBJ when its dependencies are updated
-force:
-
-DEFAULT_BPFTOOL := $(OUTPUT)/tools/sbin/bpftool
+DEFAULT_BPFTOOL := $(SCRATCH_DIR)/sbin/bpftool
 BPFTOOL ?= $(DEFAULT_BPFTOOL)
+$(DEFAULT_BPFTOOL): $(BPFOBJ) | $(BUILD_DIR)/bpftool
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras)  -C $(BPFTOOLDIR)			\
+		    OUTPUT=$(BUILD_DIR)/bpftool/			\
+		    prefix= DESTDIR=$(SCRATCH_DIR)/ install
 
-$(DEFAULT_BPFTOOL): force
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras)  -C $(BPFTOOLDIR)			      \
-		    prefix= DESTDIR=$(OUTPUT)/tools/ install
-
-$(BPFOBJ): force
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(BPFDIR) OUTPUT=$(OUTPUT)/
+$(BPFOBJ): $(wildcard $(BPFDIR)/*.c $(BPFDIR)/*.h $(BPFDIR)/Makefile)          \
+	   ../../../include/uapi/linux/bpf.h                                   \
+	   | $(INCLUDE_DIR) $(BUILD_DIR)/libbpf
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(BPFDIR) OUTPUT=$(BUILD_DIR)/libbpf/ \
+		DESTDIR=$(SCRATCH_DIR) prefix= all install_headers
 
-BPF_HELPERS := $(OUTPUT)/bpf_helper_defs.h $(wildcard $(BPFDIR)/bpf_*.h)
-$(OUTPUT)/bpf_helper_defs.h: $(BPFOBJ)
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(BPFDIR)			      \
-		    OUTPUT=$(OUTPUT)/ $(OUTPUT)/bpf_helper_defs.h
+$(BUILD_DIR)/libbpf $(BUILD_DIR)/bpftool $(INCLUDE_DIR):
+	$(call msg,MKDIR,,$@)
+	mkdir -p $@
 
 # Get Clang's default includes on this system, as opposed to those seen by
 # '-target bpf'. This fixes "missing" files on some architectures/distros,
@@ -189,8 +188,8 @@ MENDIAN=$(if $(IS_LITTLE_ENDIAN),-mlittle-endian,-mbig-endian)
 
 CLANG_SYS_INCLUDES = $(call get_sys_includes,$(CLANG))
 BPF_CFLAGS = -g -D__TARGET_ARCH_$(SRCARCH) $(MENDIAN) 			\
-	     -I$(OUTPUT) -I$(CURDIR) -I$(CURDIR)/include/uapi		\
-	     -I$(APIDIR) -I$(LIBDIR) -I$(BPFDIR) -I$(abspath $(OUTPUT)/../usr/include)
+	     -I$(INCLUDE_DIR) -I$(CURDIR) -I$(CURDIR)/include/uapi	\
+	     -I$(APIDIR) -I$(abspath $(OUTPUT)/../usr/include)
 
 CLANG_CFLAGS = $(CLANG_SYS_INCLUDES) \
 	       -Wno-compare-distinct-pointer-types
@@ -279,7 +278,7 @@ $(TRUNNER_BPF_PROGS_DIR)$(if $2,-)$2-bpfobjs := y
 $(TRUNNER_BPF_OBJS): $(TRUNNER_OUTPUT)/%.o:				\
 		     $(TRUNNER_BPF_PROGS_DIR)/%.c			\
 		     $(TRUNNER_BPF_PROGS_DIR)/*.h			\
-		     $$(BPF_HELPERS) | $(TRUNNER_OUTPUT)
+		     $$(BPFOBJ) | $(TRUNNER_OUTPUT)
 	$$(call $(TRUNNER_BPF_BUILD_RULE),$$<,$$@,			\
 					  $(TRUNNER_BPF_CFLAGS),	\
 					  $(TRUNNER_BPF_LDFLAGS))
@@ -392,7 +391,7 @@ $(OUTPUT)/test_cpp: test_cpp.cpp $(OUTPUT)/test_core_extern.skel.h $(BPFOBJ)
 	$(call msg,CXX,,$@)
 	$(CXX) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
-EXTRA_CLEAN := $(TEST_CUSTOM_PROGS)					\
+EXTRA_CLEAN := $(TEST_CUSTOM_PROGS) $(SCRATCH_DIR)			\
 	prog_tests/tests.h map_tests/tests.h verifier/tests.h		\
 	feature								\
-	$(addprefix $(OUTPUT)/,*.o *.skel.h no_alu32 bpf_gcc tools)
+	$(addprefix $(OUTPUT)/,*.o *.skel.h no_alu32 bpf_gcc)
