diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/.gitignore b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/.gitignore
index 1d14e3ab70be..8c9eac626996 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/.gitignore
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/.gitignore
@@ -39,4 +39,4 @@ 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 858d4e3369ad..ac0292a82fdc 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
+INCLUDE_BPF := $(INCLUDE_DIR)/bpf
+
 # 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 $(INCLUDE_BPF)
 	$(call msg,CC,,$@)
 	$(CC) -c $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
@@ -133,7 +137,7 @@ $(OUTPUT)/runqslower: force
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(TOOLSDIR)/bpf/runqslower	\
 		    OUTPUT=$(OUTPUT)/tools/ VMLINUX_BTF=$(VMLINUX_BTF)
 
-BPFOBJ := $(OUTPUT)/libbpf.a
+BPFOBJ := $(BUILD_DIR)/libbpf/libbpf.a
 
 $(TEST_GEN_PROGS) $(TEST_GEN_PROGS_EXTENDED): $(OUTPUT)/test_stub.o $(BPFOBJ)
 
@@ -159,17 +163,28 @@ force:
 DEFAULT_BPFTOOL := $(OUTPUT)/tools/sbin/bpftool
 BPFTOOL ?= $(DEFAULT_BPFTOOL)
 
-$(DEFAULT_BPFTOOL): force
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras)  -C $(BPFTOOLDIR)			      \
+$(BUILD_DIR)/libbpf $(BUILD_DIR)/bpftool $(INCLUDE_DIR):
+	$(call msg,MKDIR,,$@)
+	mkdir -p $@
+
+$(DEFAULT_BPFTOOL): force | $(BUILD_DIR)/bpftool
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras)  -C $(BPFTOOLDIR)		\
+		    OUTPUT=$(BUILD_DIR)/bpftool/			\
 		    prefix= DESTDIR=$(OUTPUT)/tools/ install
 
-$(BPFOBJ): force
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(BPFDIR) OUTPUT=$(OUTPUT)/
+$(BPFOBJ): force | $(BUILD_DIR)/libbpf
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(BPFDIR) \
+		OUTPUT=$(BUILD_DIR)/libbpf/
+
+$(INCLUDE_BPF): $(BPFOBJ) | $(INCLUDE_DIR)
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(BPFDIR) install_headers \
+		OUTPUT=$(BUILD_DIR)/libbpf/ DESTDIR=$(SCRATCH_DIR) prefix=
+
+BPF_HELPERS := $(or $(wildcard $(INCLUDE_BPF)/bpf_*.h),$(INCLUDE_BPF))
+ifneq ($(BPF_HELPERS),$(INCLUDE_BPF))
+$(BPF_HELPERS): $(INCLUDE_BPF)
+endif
 
-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
 
 # 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 +204,8 @@ 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
@@ -392,7 +407,7 @@ $(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)
