diff --git a/testsuite/Makefile b/testsuite/Makefile
index fa4849c7..39bf1d4e 100644
--- a/testsuite/Makefile
+++ b/testsuite/Makefile
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ configure:
 
 compile: configure
 	echo "Entering iproute2" && cd iproute2 && $(MAKE) && cd ..;
+	$(MAKE) -C tools
 
 listtests:
 	@for t in $(TESTS); do \
diff --git a/testsuite/tools/Makefile b/testsuite/tools/Makefile
index f0ce4ee2..c936af71 100644
--- a/testsuite/tools/Makefile
+++ b/testsuite/tools/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+include ../../config.mk
+
 generate_nlmsg: generate_nlmsg.c ../../lib/libnetlink.c
-	$(CC) -o $@ $^
+	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) -I../../include -include../../include/uapi/linux/netlink.h -o $@ $^
 
 clean:
 	rm -f generate_nlmsg