diff --git a/arch/riscv/Kconfig b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
index 3b702e6cc051..a91c53b096e8 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
@@ -613,12 +613,12 @@ config TOOLCHAIN_HAS_VECTOR_CRYPTO
 
 config RISCV_ISA_ZBB
 	bool "Zbb extension support for bit manipulation instructions"
-	depends on TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB
 	depends on RISCV_ALTERNATIVE
 	default y
 	help
 	   Add support for enabling optimisations in the kernel when the
-	   Zbb extension is detected at boot.
+	   Zbb extension is detected at boot. Some optimisations may
+	   additionally depend on toolchain support for Zbb.
 
 	   The Zbb extension provides instructions to accelerate a number
 	   of bit-specific operations (count bit population, sign extending,
diff --git a/arch/riscv/include/asm/arch_hweight.h b/arch/riscv/include/asm/arch_hweight.h
index 85b2c443823e..b94db541901a 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/include/asm/arch_hweight.h
+++ b/arch/riscv/include/asm/arch_hweight.h
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 static __always_inline unsigned int __arch_hweight32(unsigned int w)
 {
-#ifdef CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB
+#if defined(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && defined(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)
 	asm goto(ALTERNATIVE("j %l[legacy]", "nop", 0,
 				      RISCV_ISA_EXT_ZBB, 1)
 			  : : : : legacy);
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ static inline unsigned int __arch_hweight8(unsigned int w)
 #if BITS_PER_LONG == 64
 static __always_inline unsigned long __arch_hweight64(__u64 w)
 {
-# ifdef CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB
+#if defined(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && defined(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)
 	asm goto(ALTERNATIVE("j %l[legacy]", "nop", 0,
 				      RISCV_ISA_EXT_ZBB, 1)
 			  : : : : legacy);
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ static __always_inline unsigned long __arch_hweight64(__u64 w)
 	return w;
 
 legacy:
-# endif
+#endif
 	return __sw_hweight64(w);
 }
 #else /* BITS_PER_LONG == 64 */
diff --git a/arch/riscv/include/asm/bitops.h b/arch/riscv/include/asm/bitops.h
index 880606b0469a..6966d00c3a8a 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/include/asm/bitops.h
+++ b/arch/riscv/include/asm/bitops.h
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #include <asm/barrier.h>
 #include <asm/bitsperlong.h>
 
-#if !defined(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) || defined(NO_ALTERNATIVE)
+#if !(defined(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && defined(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)) || defined(NO_ALTERNATIVE)
 #include <asm-generic/bitops/__ffs.h>
 #include <asm-generic/bitops/__fls.h>
 #include <asm-generic/bitops/ffs.h>
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ static __always_inline int variable_fls(unsigned int x)
 	 variable_fls(x_);					\
 })
 
-#endif /* !defined(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) || defined(NO_ALTERNATIVE) */
+#endif /* !(defined(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && defined(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)) || defined(NO_ALTERNATIVE) */
 
 #include <asm-generic/bitops/ffz.h>
 #include <asm-generic/bitops/fls64.h>
diff --git a/arch/riscv/include/asm/checksum.h b/arch/riscv/include/asm/checksum.h
index 88e6f1499e88..da378856f1d5 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/include/asm/checksum.h
+++ b/arch/riscv/include/asm/checksum.h
@@ -49,8 +49,7 @@ static inline __sum16 ip_fast_csum(const void *iph, unsigned int ihl)
 	 * ZBB only saves three instructions on 32-bit and five on 64-bit so not
 	 * worth checking if supported without Alternatives.
 	 */
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) &&
-	    IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ALTERNATIVE)) {
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)) {
 		unsigned long fold_temp;
 
 		asm goto(ALTERNATIVE("j %l[no_zbb]", "nop", 0,
diff --git a/arch/riscv/lib/csum.c b/arch/riscv/lib/csum.c
index 7fb12c59e571..9408f50ca59a 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/lib/csum.c
+++ b/arch/riscv/lib/csum.c
@@ -40,12 +40,7 @@ __sum16 csum_ipv6_magic(const struct in6_addr *saddr,
 	uproto = (__force unsigned int)htonl(proto);
 	sum += uproto;
 
-	/*
-	 * Zbb support saves 4 instructions, so not worth checking without
-	 * alternatives if supported
-	 */
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) &&
-	    IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ALTERNATIVE)) {
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)) {
 		unsigned long fold_temp;
 
 		/*
@@ -157,12 +152,7 @@ do_csum_with_alignment(const unsigned char *buff, int len)
 	csum = do_csum_common(ptr, end, data);
 
 #ifdef CC_HAS_ASM_GOTO_TIED_OUTPUT
-	/*
-	 * Zbb support saves 6 instructions, so not worth checking without
-	 * alternatives if supported
-	 */
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) &&
-	    IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ALTERNATIVE)) {
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)) {
 		unsigned long fold_temp;
 
 		/*
@@ -244,12 +234,7 @@ do_csum_no_alignment(const unsigned char *buff, int len)
 	end = (const unsigned long *)(buff + len);
 	csum = do_csum_common(ptr, end, data);
 
-	/*
-	 * Zbb support saves 6 instructions, so not worth checking without
-	 * alternatives if supported
-	 */
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) &&
-	    IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ALTERNATIVE)) {
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)) {
 		unsigned long fold_temp;
 
 		/*
diff --git a/arch/riscv/lib/strcmp.S b/arch/riscv/lib/strcmp.S
index 687b2bea5c43..204fb1c184f3 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/lib/strcmp.S
+++ b/arch/riscv/lib/strcmp.S
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 /* int strcmp(const char *cs, const char *ct) */
 SYM_FUNC_START(strcmp)
 
-	ALTERNATIVE("nop", "j strcmp_zbb", 0, RISCV_ISA_EXT_ZBB, CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB)
+	__ALTERNATIVE_CFG("nop", "j strcmp_zbb", 0, RISCV_ISA_EXT_ZBB,
+		IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB_ALT) && IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB))
 
 	/*
 	 * Returns
@@ -43,7 +44,7 @@ SYM_FUNC_START(strcmp)
  * The code was published as part of the bitmanip manual
  * in Appendix A.
  */
-#ifdef CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB
+#if defined(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && defined(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)
 strcmp_zbb:
 
 .option push
diff --git a/arch/riscv/lib/strlen.S b/arch/riscv/lib/strlen.S
index 8ae3064e45ff..84909807d988 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/lib/strlen.S
+++ b/arch/riscv/lib/strlen.S
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 /* int strlen(const char *s) */
 SYM_FUNC_START(strlen)
 
-	ALTERNATIVE("nop", "j strlen_zbb", 0, RISCV_ISA_EXT_ZBB, CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB)
+	__ALTERNATIVE_CFG("nop", "j strlen_zbb", 0, RISCV_ISA_EXT_ZBB,
+		IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB_ALT) && IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB))
 
 	/*
 	 * Returns
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ SYM_FUNC_START(strlen)
 /*
  * Variant of strlen using the ZBB extension if available
  */
-#ifdef CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB
+#if defined(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && defined(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)
 strlen_zbb:
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_CPU_BIG_ENDIAN
diff --git a/arch/riscv/lib/strncmp.S b/arch/riscv/lib/strncmp.S
index aba5b3148621..87e7c83c1672 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/lib/strncmp.S
+++ b/arch/riscv/lib/strncmp.S
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 /* int strncmp(const char *cs, const char *ct, size_t count) */
 SYM_FUNC_START(strncmp)
 
-	ALTERNATIVE("nop", "j strncmp_zbb", 0, RISCV_ISA_EXT_ZBB, CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB)
+	__ALTERNATIVE_CFG("nop", "j strncmp_zbb", 0, RISCV_ISA_EXT_ZBB,
+		IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB_ALT) && IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB))
 
 	/*
 	 * Returns
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ SYM_FUNC_START(strncmp)
 /*
  * Variant of strncmp using the ZBB extension if available
  */
-#ifdef CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB
+#if defined(CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_ZBB) && defined(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZBB)
 strncmp_zbb:
 
 .option push
