diff --git a/drivers/bus/pci/private.h b/drivers/bus/pci/private.h
index f566943f5e..4cd9d14ec7 100644
--- a/drivers/bus/pci/private.h
+++ b/drivers/bus/pci/private.h
@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@
 
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
-#include <rte_pci.h>
+
 #include <rte_bus_pci.h>
+#include <rte_os_shim.h>
+#include <rte_pci.h>
 
 extern struct rte_pci_bus rte_pci_bus;
 
diff --git a/drivers/bus/vdev/vdev_private.h b/drivers/bus/vdev/vdev_private.h
index ba6dc48ff3..e683f5f133 100644
--- a/drivers/bus/vdev/vdev_private.h
+++ b/drivers/bus/vdev/vdev_private.h
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 #ifndef _VDEV_PRIVATE_H_
 #define _VDEV_PRIVATE_H_
 
+#include <rte_os_shim.h>
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
 #endif
diff --git a/drivers/common/mlx5/mlx5_common.h b/drivers/common/mlx5/mlx5_common.h
index 327374fdcf..f3c6beb23b 100644
--- a/drivers/common/mlx5/mlx5_common.h
+++ b/drivers/common/mlx5/mlx5_common.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <rte_kvargs.h>
 #include <rte_devargs.h>
 #include <rte_bitops.h>
+#include <rte_os_shim.h>
 
 #include "mlx5_prm.h"
 #include "mlx5_devx_cmds.h"
diff --git a/drivers/net/i40e/i40e_ethdev.c b/drivers/net/i40e/i40e_ethdev.c
index c03e4a0a4b..ea5d384283 100644
--- a/drivers/net/i40e/i40e_ethdev.c
+++ b/drivers/net/i40e/i40e_ethdev.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <rte_tailq.h>
 #include <rte_hash_crc.h>
 #include <rte_bitmap.h>
+#include <rte_os_shim.h>
 
 #include "i40e_logs.h"
 #include "base/i40e_prototype.h"
diff --git a/examples/service_cores/main.c b/examples/service_cores/main.c
index c7c792810d..0b3d8c8073 100644
--- a/examples/service_cores/main.c
+++ b/examples/service_cores/main.c
@@ -209,10 +209,10 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		apply_profile(i);
 		printf("\n==> Profile: %s\n\n", profiles[i].name);
 
-		sleep(1);
+		rte_delay_us_sleep(1 * US_PER_S);
 		rte_service_dump(stdout, UINT32_MAX);
 
-		sleep(5);
+		rte_delay_us_sleep(5 * US_PER_S);
 		rte_service_dump(stdout, UINT32_MAX);
 
 		i++;
diff --git a/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline.c b/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline.c
index 79ea5f98c8..49770869bb 100644
--- a/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline.c
+++ b/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline.c
@@ -18,10 +18,6 @@
 
 #include "cmdline_private.h"
 
-#ifdef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
-#define write _write
-#endif
-
 static void
 cmdline_valid_buffer(struct rdline *rdl, const char *buf,
 		     __rte_unused unsigned int size)
diff --git a/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_os_windows.c b/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_os_windows.c
index e9585c9eea..73ed9ba290 100644
--- a/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_os_windows.c
+++ b/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_os_windows.c
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
 
 #include <io.h>
 
-#include <rte_os.h>
-
 #include "cmdline_private.h"
 
 /* Missing from some MinGW-w64 distributions. */
diff --git a/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_private.h b/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_private.h
index a8a6ee9e69..a87c45275c 100644
--- a/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_private.h
+++ b/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_private.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include <stdarg.h>
 
 #include <rte_common.h>
+#include <rte_os_shim.h>
 #ifdef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
 #include <rte_windows.h>
 #endif
diff --git a/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_socket.c b/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_socket.c
index 0fe1497008..998e8ade25 100644
--- a/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_socket.c
+++ b/lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_socket.c
@@ -16,10 +16,6 @@
 #include "cmdline_private.h"
 #include "cmdline_socket.h"
 
-#ifdef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
-#define open _open
-#endif
-
 struct cmdline *
 cmdline_file_new(cmdline_parse_ctx_t *ctx, const char *prompt, const char *path)
 {
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_config.c b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_config.c
index 56d09dda7f..1c4c4dd585 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_config.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_config.c
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
  */
 #include <string.h>
 
-#include <rte_os.h>
 #include <rte_string_fns.h>
 
 #include "eal_private.h"
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_errno.c b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_errno.c
index 2a10fb823f..f86802705a 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_errno.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_errno.c
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
 #include <rte_errno.h>
 #include <rte_string_fns.h>
 
+#ifdef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
+#define strerror_r(errnum, buf, buflen) strerror_s(buf, buflen, errnum)
+#endif
+
 RTE_DEFINE_PER_LCORE(int, _rte_errno);
 
 const char *
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_log.c b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_log.c
index bed83a402a..cedf9f0894 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_log.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_log.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 #include <rte_eal.h>
 #include <rte_log.h>
+#include <rte_os_shim.h>
 #include <rte_per_lcore.h>
 
 #include "eal_log.h"
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_options.c b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_options.c
index 2951b1aca2..66f9114715 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_options.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_options.c
@@ -1959,7 +1959,7 @@ eal_check_common_options(struct internal_config *internal_cfg)
 		RTE_LOG(ERR, EAL, "Invalid length of --" OPT_MBUF_POOL_OPS_NAME" option\n");
 		return -1;
 	}
-	if (index(eal_get_hugefile_prefix(), '%') != NULL) {
+	if (strchr(eal_get_hugefile_prefix(), '%') != NULL) {
 		RTE_LOG(ERR, EAL, "Invalid char, '%%', in --"OPT_FILE_PREFIX" "
 			"option\n");
 		return -1;
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_timer.c b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_timer.c
index 71e0bd035a..86f8429847 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_timer.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_timer.c
@@ -47,9 +47,9 @@ estimate_tsc_freq(void)
 #define CYC_PER_10MHZ 1E7
 	RTE_LOG(WARNING, EAL, "WARNING: TSC frequency estimated roughly"
 		" - clock timings may be less accurate.\n");
-	/* assume that the sleep(1) will sleep for 1 second */
+	/* assume that the rte_delay_us_sleep() will sleep for 1 second */
 	uint64_t start = rte_rdtsc();
-	sleep(1);
+	rte_delay_us_sleep(US_PER_S);
 	/* Round up to 10Mhz. 1E7 ~ 10Mhz */
 	return RTE_ALIGN_MUL_NEAR(rte_rdtsc() - start, CYC_PER_10MHZ);
 }
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_internal_cfg.h b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_internal_cfg.h
index 51dbe86e2b..d6c0470eb8 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_internal_cfg.h
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_internal_cfg.h
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #define EAL_INTERNAL_CFG_H
 
 #include <rte_eal.h>
+#include <rte_os_shim.h>
 #include <rte_pci_dev_feature_defs.h>
 
 #include "eal_thread.h"
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/freebsd/include/rte_os_shim.h b/lib/librte_eal/freebsd/include/rte_os_shim.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1e85229ca9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/freebsd/include/rte_os_shim.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause */
+
+#ifndef _RTE_OS_SHIM_
+#define _RTE_OS_SHIM_
+
+#include <rte_os.h>
+
+/**
+ * @file
+ * @internal
+ * Provides semi-standard OS facilities by convenient names.
+ */
+
+#endif /* _RTE_OS_SHIM_ */
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/linux/include/rte_os_shim.h b/lib/librte_eal/linux/include/rte_os_shim.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1e85229ca9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/linux/include/rte_os_shim.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause */
+
+#ifndef _RTE_OS_SHIM_
+#define _RTE_OS_SHIM_
+
+#include <rte_os.h>
+
+/**
+ * @file
+ * @internal
+ * Provides semi-standard OS facilities by convenient names.
+ */
+
+#endif /* _RTE_OS_SHIM_ */
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_hugepages.c b/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_hugepages.c
index 83a3d0ffc6..b007dceb39 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_hugepages.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_hugepages.c
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 #include <rte_log.h>
 #include <rte_memory.h>
 #include <rte_memzone.h>
-#include <rte_os.h>
 
 #include "eal_private.h"
 #include "eal_filesystem.h"
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_lcore.c b/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_lcore.c
index a85149be95..476c2d2bdf 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_lcore.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_lcore.c
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 #include <rte_common.h>
 #include <rte_debug.h>
 #include <rte_lcore.h>
-#include <rte_os.h>
 
 #include "eal_private.h"
 #include "eal_thread.h"
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_memalloc.c b/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_memalloc.c
index 85a9712cea..4459d59b1a 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_memalloc.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/windows/eal_memalloc.c
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
  */
 
 #include <rte_errno.h>
-#include <rte_os.h>
 
 #include "eal_internal_cfg.h"
 #include "eal_memalloc.h"
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/windows/include/rte_os.h b/lib/librte_eal/windows/include/rte_os.h
index 1afe49f35e..66c711d458 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/windows/include/rte_os.h
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/windows/include/rte_os.h
@@ -18,72 +18,18 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
-/* limits.h replacement, value as in <windows.h> */
-#ifndef PATH_MAX
-#define PATH_MAX _MAX_PATH
-#endif
-
-#ifndef sleep
-#define sleep(x) Sleep(1000 * (x))
-#endif
-
-#ifndef strerror_r
-#define strerror_r(a, b, c) strerror_s(b, c, a)
-#endif
-
-#ifndef strdup
-/* strdup is deprecated in Microsoft libc and _strdup is preferred */
-#define strdup(str) _strdup(str)
-#endif
-
-#ifndef strtok_r
-#define strtok_r(str, delim, saveptr) strtok_s(str, delim, saveptr)
-#endif
-
-#ifndef index
-#define index(a, b)     strchr(a, b)
-#endif
-
-#ifndef rindex
-#define rindex(a, b)    strrchr(a, b)
-#endif
-
-#ifndef strncasecmp
-#define strncasecmp(s1, s2, count)        _strnicmp(s1, s2, count)
-#endif
-
-#ifndef close
-#define close _close
-#endif
-
-#ifndef unlink
-#define unlink _unlink
-#endif
-
 /* cpu_set macros implementation */
 #define RTE_CPU_AND(dst, src1, src2) CPU_AND(dst, src1, src2)
 #define RTE_CPU_OR(dst, src1, src2) CPU_OR(dst, src1, src2)
 #define RTE_CPU_FILL(set) CPU_FILL(set)
 #define RTE_CPU_NOT(dst, src) CPU_NOT(dst, src)
 
-/* as in <windows.h> */
+/* This is an exception without "rte_" prefix, because Windows does have
+ * ssize_t, but it's defined in <windows.h> which we avoid to expose.
+ * If ssize_t is defined in user code, it necessarily has the same type.
+ */
 typedef long long ssize_t;
 
-#ifndef RTE_TOOLCHAIN_GCC
-static inline const char *
-eal_strerror(int code)
-{
-	static char buffer[128];
-
-	strerror_s(buffer, sizeof(buffer), code);
-	return buffer;
-}
-
-#ifndef strerror
-#define strerror eal_strerror
-#endif
-#endif /* RTE_TOOLCHAIN_GCC */
-
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/windows/include/rte_os_shim.h b/lib/librte_eal/windows/include/rte_os_shim.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..edd9a1082c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/windows/include/rte_os_shim.h
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause */
+
+#ifndef _RTE_OS_SHIM_
+#define _RTE_OS_SHIM_
+
+#include <rte_os.h>
+
+/**
+ * @file
+ * @internal
+ * Provides semi-standard OS facilities by convenient names.
+ */
+
+#ifndef PATH_MAX
+#define PATH_MAX _MAX_PATH
+#endif
+
+#define strdup(str) _strdup(str)
+#define strtok_r(str, delim, saveptr) strtok_s(str, delim, saveptr)
+#define strncasecmp(s1, s2, count) _strnicmp(s1, s2, count)
+
+#define open(path, flags, ...) _open(path, flags, ##__VA_ARGS__)
+#define read(fd, buf, n) _read(fd, buf, n)
+#define write(fd, buf, n) _write(fd, buf, n)
+#define close(fd) _close(fd)
+#define unlink(path) _unlink(path)
+
+#endif /* _RTE_OS_SHIM_ */
diff --git a/lib/librte_ethdev/ethdev_private.h b/lib/librte_ethdev/ethdev_private.h
index 220ddd4408..9bb0879538 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ethdev/ethdev_private.h
+++ b/lib/librte_ethdev/ethdev_private.h
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 #ifndef _ETH_PRIVATE_H_
 #define _ETH_PRIVATE_H_
 
+#include <rte_os_shim.h>
+
 #include "rte_ethdev.h"
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
diff --git a/lib/librte_kvargs/rte_kvargs.c b/lib/librte_kvargs/rte_kvargs.c
index 4cce8e953b..38e9d5c1ca 100644
--- a/lib/librte_kvargs/rte_kvargs.c
+++ b/lib/librte_kvargs/rte_kvargs.c
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
 
+#include <rte_os_shim.h>
 #include <rte_string_fns.h>
 
 #include "rte_kvargs.h"
