diff --git a/lib/Makefile b/lib/Makefile
index 8c839425d..a264945d3 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile
+++ b/lib/Makefile
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ DIRS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_ETHER) += librte_ethdev
 DEPDIRS-librte_ethdev := librte_net librte_eal librte_mempool librte_ring
 DEPDIRS-librte_ethdev += librte_mbuf
 DEPDIRS-librte_ethdev += librte_kvargs
+DEPDIRS-librte_ethdev += librte_cmdline
 DIRS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_BBDEV) += librte_bbdev
 DEPDIRS-librte_bbdev := librte_eal librte_mempool librte_mbuf
 DIRS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_CRYPTODEV) += librte_cryptodev
diff --git a/lib/librte_cmdline/meson.build b/lib/librte_cmdline/meson.build
index 5741817ac..30498906c 100644
--- a/lib/librte_cmdline/meson.build
+++ b/lib/librte_cmdline/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
 # Copyright(c) 2017 Intel Corporation
 
+# This library is processed before EAL
+includes = [global_inc]
+includes += include_directories('../librte_eal/common/include')
+
 version = 2
 sources = files('cmdline.c',
 	'cmdline_cirbuf.c',
diff --git a/lib/librte_ethdev/Makefile b/lib/librte_ethdev/Makefile
index e27bcd5ac..3e27ae466 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ethdev/Makefile
+++ b/lib/librte_ethdev/Makefile
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ CFLAGS += -DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API
 CFLAGS += -O3
 CFLAGS += $(WERROR_FLAGS)
 LDLIBS += -lrte_net -lrte_eal -lrte_mempool -lrte_ring
-LDLIBS += -lrte_mbuf -lrte_kvargs
+LDLIBS += -lrte_mbuf -lrte_kvargs -lrte_cmdline
 
 EXPORT_MAP := rte_ethdev_version.map
 
diff --git a/lib/librte_ethdev/meson.build b/lib/librte_ethdev/meson.build
index 6783013fd..a4d850268 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ethdev/meson.build
+++ b/lib/librte_ethdev/meson.build
@@ -26,4 +26,4 @@ headers = files('rte_ethdev.h',
 	'rte_tm.h',
 	'rte_tm_driver.h')
 
-deps += ['net', 'kvargs']
+deps += ['net', 'kvargs', 'cmdline']
diff --git a/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_class_eth.c b/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_class_eth.c
index fca7fe4d4..16b47c3bc 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_class_eth.c
+++ b/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_class_eth.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 #include <string.h>
 
+#include <cmdline_parse_etheraddr.h>
 #include <rte_class.h>
 #include <rte_compat.h>
 #include <rte_errno.h>
@@ -16,11 +17,13 @@
 #include "ethdev_private.h"
 
 enum eth_params {
+	RTE_ETH_PARAM_MAC,
 	RTE_ETH_PARAM_REPRESENTOR,
 	RTE_ETH_PARAM_MAX,
 };
 
 static const char * const eth_params_keys[] = {
+	[RTE_ETH_PARAM_MAC] = "mac",
 	[RTE_ETH_PARAM_REPRESENTOR] = "representor",
 	[RTE_ETH_PARAM_MAX] = NULL,
 };
@@ -36,6 +39,33 @@ struct eth_dev_match_arg {
 		.kvlist = (k), \
 	})
 
+static int
+eth_mac_cmp(const char *key __rte_unused,
+		const char *value, void *opaque)
+{
+	int ret;
+	struct ether_addr mac;
+	const struct rte_eth_dev_data *data = opaque;
+	struct rte_eth_dev_info dev_info;
+	uint32_t index;
+
+	/* Parse devargs MAC address. */
+	/*
+	 * cannot use ether_aton_r(value, &mac)
+	 * because of include conflict with rte_ether.h
+	 */
+	ret = cmdline_parse_etheraddr(NULL, value, &mac, sizeof(mac));
+	if (ret < 0)
+		return -1; /* invalid devargs value */
+
+	/* Return 0 if devargs MAC is matching one of the device MACs. */
+	rte_eth_dev_info_get(data->port_id, &dev_info);
+	for (index = 0; index < dev_info.max_mac_addrs; index++)
+		if (is_same_ether_addr(&mac, &data->mac_addrs[index]))
+			return 0;
+	return -1; /* no match */
+}
+
 static int
 eth_representor_cmp(const char *key __rte_unused,
 		const char *value, void *opaque)
@@ -85,6 +115,12 @@ eth_dev_match(const struct rte_eth_dev *edev,
 		/* Empty string matches everything. */
 		return 0;
 
+	ret = rte_kvargs_process(kvlist,
+			eth_params_keys[RTE_ETH_PARAM_MAC],
+			eth_mac_cmp, edev->data);
+	if (ret != 0)
+		return -1;
+
 	ret = rte_kvargs_process(kvlist,
 			eth_params_keys[RTE_ETH_PARAM_REPRESENTOR],
 			eth_representor_cmp, edev->data);
diff --git a/lib/meson.build b/lib/meson.build
index 3acc67e6e..f344ffdef 100644
--- a/lib/meson.build
+++ b/lib/meson.build
@@ -9,13 +9,14 @@
 # given as a dep, no need to mention ring. This is especially true for the
 # core libs which are widely reused, so their deps are kept to a minimum.
 libraries = [ 'compat', # just a header, used for versioning
-	'kvargs',
+	'cmdline', # ethdev depends on cmdline for parsing functions
+	'kvargs', # eal depends on kvargs
 	'eal', 'ring', 'mempool', 'mbuf', 'net', 'ethdev', 'pci', # core
 	'metrics', # bitrate/latency stats depends on this
 	'hash',    # efd depends on this
 	'timer',   # eventdev depends on this
 	'acl', 'bbdev', 'bitratestats', 'cfgfile',
-	'cmdline', 'compressdev', 'cryptodev',
+	'compressdev', 'cryptodev',
 	'distributor', 'efd', 'eventdev',
 	'gro', 'gso', 'ip_frag', 'jobstats',
 	'kni', 'latencystats', 'lpm', 'member',
