diff --git a/examples/ethtool/Makefile b/examples/ethtool/Makefile
index d3b97bb50b..a1a80c44e6 100644
--- a/examples/ethtool/Makefile
+++ b/examples/ethtool/Makefile
@@ -1,23 +1,11 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
-# Copyright(c) 2015 Intel Corporation
+# Copyright(c) 2015-2020 Intel Corporation
 
-ifeq ($(RTE_SDK),)
-$(error "Please define RTE_SDK environment variable")
-endif
+subdirs := lib ethtool-app
 
-# Default target, detect a build directory, by looking for a path with a .config
-RTE_TARGET ?= $(notdir $(abspath $(dir $(firstword $(wildcard $(RTE_SDK)/*/.config)))))
+.PHONY: all static shared clean $(subdirs)
+all static shared clean: $(subdirs)
 
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.vars.mk
-
-ifneq ($(CONFIG_RTE_EXEC_ENV_LINUX),y)
-$(info This application can only operate in a linux environment, \
-please change the definition of the RTE_TARGET environment variable)
-else
-
-DIRS-y += lib ethtool-app
-endif
-
-DEPDIRS-ethtool-app := lib
-
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.extsubdir.mk
+ethtool-app: lib
+$(subdirs):
+	$(MAKE) -C $@ $(MAKECMDGOALS)
diff --git a/examples/ethtool/ethtool-app/Makefile b/examples/ethtool/ethtool-app/Makefile
index 20ac0d3240..5ebeb200a8 100644
--- a/examples/ethtool/ethtool-app/Makefile
+++ b/examples/ethtool/ethtool-app/Makefile
@@ -1,14 +1,5 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
-# Copyright(c) 2010-2014 Intel Corporation
-
-ifeq ($(RTE_SDK),)
-$(error "Please define RTE_SDK environment variable")
-endif
-
-# Default target, detect a build directory, by looking for a path with a .config
-RTE_TARGET ?= $(notdir $(abspath $(dir $(firstword $(wildcard $(RTE_SDK)/*/.config)))))
-
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.vars.mk
+# Copyright(c) 2010-2020 Intel Corporation
 
 # binary name
 APP = ethtool
@@ -16,17 +7,40 @@ APP = ethtool
 # all source are stored in SRCS-y
 SRCS-y := main.c ethapp.c
 
-CFLAGS += -O3 -pthread -I$(SRCDIR)/../lib
-CFLAGS += $(WERROR_FLAGS)
-CFLAGS += -DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API
+CFLAGS += -I../lib
+LDFLAGS += -L../lib/build
+LDFLAGS_STATIC = -l:librte_ethtool.a
+LDFLAGS_SHARED = -lrte_ethtool
 
-LDLIBS += -L$(subst ethtool-app,lib,$(RTE_OUTPUT))/lib
-LDLIBS += -lrte_ethtool
-
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_SHARED_LIB),y)
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_IXGBE_PMD),y)
-LDLIBS += -lrte_pmd_ixgbe
-endif
+# Build using pkg-config variables if possible
+ifneq ($(shell pkg-config --exists libdpdk && echo 0),0)
+$(error "no installation of DPDK found")
 endif
 
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.extapp.mk
+all: shared
+.PHONY: shared static
+shared: build/$(APP)-shared
+	ln -sf $(APP)-shared build/$(APP)
+static: build/$(APP)-static
+	ln -sf $(APP)-static build/$(APP)
+
+PKGCONF ?= pkg-config
+
+PC_FILE := $(shell $(PKGCONF) --path libdpdk 2>/dev/null)
+CFLAGS += -O3 $(shell $(PKGCONF) --cflags libdpdk)
+LDFLAGS_SHARED += $(shell $(PKGCONF) --libs libdpdk)
+LDFLAGS_STATIC += $(shell $(PKGCONF) --static --libs libdpdk)
+
+build/$(APP)-shared: $(SRCS-y) Makefile $(PC_FILE) | build
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(SRCS-y) -o $@ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_SHARED)
+
+build/$(APP)-static: $(SRCS-y) Makefile $(PC_FILE) | build
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(SRCS-y) -o $@ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_STATIC)
+
+build:
+	@mkdir -p $@
+
+.PHONY: clean
+clean:
+	rm -f build/$(APP) build/$(APP)-static build/$(APP)-shared
+	test -d build && rmdir -p build || true
diff --git a/examples/ethtool/lib/Makefile b/examples/ethtool/lib/Makefile
index 6494741270..3bc2b9d8ba 100644
--- a/examples/ethtool/lib/Makefile
+++ b/examples/ethtool/lib/Makefile
@@ -1,37 +1,49 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
-# Copyright(c) 2015 Intel Corporation
+# Copyright(c) 2015-2020 Intel Corporation
 
-ifeq ($(RTE_SDK),)
-$(error "Please define RTE_SDK environment variable")
-endif
-
-# Default target, detect a build directory, by looking for a path with a .config
-RTE_TARGET ?= $(notdir $(abspath $(dir $(firstword $(wildcard $(RTE_SDK)/*/.config)))))
-
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.vars.mk
 
-ifneq ($(CONFIG_RTE_EXEC_ENV_LINUX),y)
-$(error This application can only operate in a linux environment, \
-please change the definition of the RTE_TARGET environment variable)
+ifneq ($(shell pkg-config --exists libdpdk && echo 0),0)
+$(error "no installation of DPDK found")
 endif
+ifneq ($(shell uname),Linux)
+$(error This application can only operate in a linux environment)
+endif
+
+PKGCONF ?= pkg-config
 
 # library name
-LIB = librte_ethtool.a
-
-LIBABIVER := 0.1
-
-# all source are stored in SRC-Y
-SRCS-y := rte_ethtool.c
+LIB = librte_ethtool.so
+LIB_STATIC = librte_ethtool.a
+SRCS = rte_ethtool.c
 
 CFLAGS += -O3
-CFLAGS += $(WERROR_FLAGS)
+CFLAGS += -fPIC
 CFLAGS += -DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API
 
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_SHARED_LIB),y)
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_IXGBE_PMD),y)
-LDLIBS += -lrte_pmd_ixgbe
-endif
+PC_FILE := $(shell $(PKGCONF) --path libdpdk 2>/dev/null)
+CFLAGS += -O3 $(shell $(PKGCONF) --cflags libdpdk)
+LDFLAGS_SHARED = $(shell $(PKGCONF) --libs libdpdk)
+LDFLAGS += -Wl,--no-undefined $(LDFLAGS_SHARED)
+
+# check for ixgbe by grepping pre-processor output
+ifneq ($(shell $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -dM -E - < /dev/null | grep IXGBE),)
+LDFLAGS += -lrte_pmd_ixgbe
 endif
-LDLIBS += -lrte_eal -lrte_ethdev
 
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.extlib.mk
+.PHONY: all clean static shared
+all shared: build/$(LIB)
+static: build/$(LIB_STATIC)
+
+clean:
+	rm -f build/$(LIB)
+	test -d build && rmdir -p build || true
+
+build:
+	@mkdir -p $@
+
+build/%.so: $(SRCS) Makefile $(PC_FILE) | build
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ -shared $(SRCS) $(LDFLAGS)
+
+build/%.a: $(SRCS) Makefile $(PC_FILE) | build
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $(SRCS) -o build/$(SRCS).o
+	$(AR) -cr $@ build/*.o
