diff --git a/examples/performance-thread/Makefile b/examples/performance-thread/Makefile
index 08158914c3..ef88722d3c 100644
--- a/examples/performance-thread/Makefile
+++ b/examples/performance-thread/Makefile
@@ -1,21 +1,14 @@
 # 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)))))
+subdirs := l3fwd-thread pthread_shim
 
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.vars.mk
+.PHONY: all static shared clean $(subdirs)
+all static shared clean: $(subdirs)
 
-ifeq ($(filter y,$(CONFIG_RTE_ARCH_X86_64) $(CONFIG_RTE_ARCH_ARM64)),)
+ifeq ($(filter $(shell uname -m),x86_64 arm64),)
 $(error This application is only supported for x86_64 and arm64 targets)
 endif
 
-DIRS-y += l3fwd-thread
-DIRS-y += pthread_shim
-
-
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.extsubdir.mk
+$(subdirs):
+	$(MAKE) -C $@ $(MAKECMDGOALS)
diff --git a/examples/performance-thread/common/common.mk b/examples/performance-thread/common/common.mk
index 5e2b18a9ff..a33e2ab038 100644
--- a/examples/performance-thread/common/common.mk
+++ b/examples/performance-thread/common/common.mk
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@
 
 MKFILE_PATH=$(abspath $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
 
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_ARCH_X86_64),y)
+ifeq ($(shell uname -m),x86_64)
 ARCH_PATH += $(MKFILE_PATH)/arch/x86
-else ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_ARCH_ARM64),y)
+else ifeq ($(shell uname -m),arm64)
 ARCH_PATH += $(MKFILE_PATH)/arch/arm64
 endif
 
@@ -18,4 +18,4 @@ VPATH := $(MKFILE_PATH) $(ARCH_PATH)
 
 SRCS-y += lthread.c lthread_sched.c lthread_cond.c lthread_tls.c lthread_mutex.c lthread_diag.c ctx.c
 
-INCLUDES += -I$(MKFILE_PATH) -I$(ARCH_PATH)
+CFLAGS += -I$(MKFILE_PATH) -I$(ARCH_PATH)
diff --git a/examples/performance-thread/l3fwd-thread/Makefile b/examples/performance-thread/l3fwd-thread/Makefile
index c6cf05a438..ca1a5d087e 100644
--- a/examples/performance-thread/l3fwd-thread/Makefile
+++ b/examples/performance-thread/l3fwd-thread/Makefile
@@ -1,14 +1,5 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
-# Copyright(c) 2010-2015 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 = l3fwd-thread
@@ -16,9 +7,39 @@ APP = l3fwd-thread
 # all source are stored in SRCS-y
 SRCS-y := main.c
 
-include $(RTE_SDK)/examples/performance-thread/common/common.mk
+include ../common/common.mk
 
-CFLAGS += -O3 -g $(USER_FLAGS) $(INCLUDES) $(WERROR_FLAGS)
 CFLAGS += -DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API
 
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.extapp.mk
+# Build using pkg-config variables if possible
+ifneq ($(shell pkg-config --exists libdpdk && echo 0),0)
+$(error "no installation of DPDK found")
+endif
+
+all: shared
+.PHONY: shared static
+shared: build/$(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) $(filter %.c,$^) -o $@ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_SHARED)
+
+build/$(APP)-static: $(SRCS-y) Makefile $(PC_FILE) | build
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(filter %.c,$^) -o $@ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_SHARED)
+
+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/performance-thread/pthread_shim/Makefile b/examples/performance-thread/pthread_shim/Makefile
index cdadf2cb77..6b19ff63fe 100644
--- a/examples/performance-thread/pthread_shim/Makefile
+++ b/examples/performance-thread/pthread_shim/Makefile
@@ -1,33 +1,55 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
-# Copyright(c) 2015 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 = lthread_pthread_shim
 
 # all source are stored in SRCS-y
-SRCS-y := main.c  pthread_shim.c
-INCLUDES := -I$(RTE_SDK)/$(RTE_TARGET)/include -I$(SRCDIR)
-include $(RTE_SDK)/examples/performance-thread/common/common.mk
+SRCS-y := main.c pthread_shim.c
+
+include ../common/common.mk
 
-CFLAGS += -g -O3 $(USER_FLAGS) $(INCLUDES)
-CFLAGS += $(WERROR_FLAGS)
 CFLAGS += -DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API
+CFLAGS += -D_GNU_SOURCE
+LDFLAGS += "-Wl,--copy-dt-needed-entries"
+
+# Build using pkg-config variables if possible
+ifneq ($(shell pkg-config --exists libdpdk && echo 0),0)
+$(error "no installation of DPDK found")
+endif
+
+all: shared
+.PHONY: shared static
+shared: build/$(APP)-shared
+	ln -sf $(APP)-shared build/$(APP)
+static: build/$(APP)-static
+	ln -sf $(APP)-static build/$(APP)
 
 LDFLAGS += -lpthread
 
+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) $(filter %.c,$^) -o $@ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_SHARED)
+
+build/$(APP)-static: $(SRCS-y) Makefile $(PC_FILE) | build
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(filter %.c,$^) -o $@ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_SHARED)
+
 # workaround for a gcc bug with noreturn attribute
 # http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=12603
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_TOOLCHAIN_GCC),y)
+ifeq ($(shell gcc -dumpversion),-gt 0)
 CFLAGS_main.o += -Wno-return-type
 endif
 
-include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.extapp.mk
+build:
+	@mkdir -p $@
+
+.PHONY: clean
+clean:
+	rm -f build/$(APP) build/$(APP)-static build/$(APP)-shared
+	test -d build && rmdir -p build || true
