diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 94aac856..bd454226 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,12 +9,6 @@ endif()
 
 enable_testing()
 
-# populate submodules (libbpf)
-if(NOT EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc/libbpf/src)
-  execute_process(COMMAND git submodule update --init --recursive
-                  WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
-endif()
-
 include(cmake/GetGitRevisionDescription.cmake)
 include(cmake/version.cmake)
 include(CMakeDependentOption)
@@ -61,6 +55,9 @@ FOREACH(DIR ${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
   include_directories("${DIR}/../tools/clang/include")
 ENDFOREACH()
 
+find_package(PkgConfig)
+pkg_check_modules(LIBBPF REQUIRED libbpf)
+
 # Set to a string path if system places kernel lib directory in
 # non-default location.
 if(NOT DEFINED BCC_KERNEL_MODULES_DIR)
diff --git a/examples/cpp/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
index 906c9aaf..210f0f75 100644
--- a/examples/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc)
 include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc/api)
-include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc/libbpf/include/uapi)
+include_directories(${LIBBPF_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
 option(INSTALL_CPP_EXAMPLES "Install C++ examples. Those binaries are statically linked and can take plenty of disk space" OFF)
 
diff --git a/examples/cpp/pyperf/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/cpp/pyperf/CMakeLists.txt
index 6f963c66..e8dd66f6 100644
--- a/examples/cpp/pyperf/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/cpp/pyperf/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc)
 include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc/api)
-include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc/libbpf/include/uapi)
+include_directories(${LIBBPF_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
 add_executable(PyPerf PyPerf.cc PyPerfUtil.cc PyPerfBPFProgram.cc PyPerfLoggingHelper.cc PyPerfDefaultPrinter.cc Py36Offsets.cc)
 target_link_libraries(PyPerf bcc-static)
diff --git a/introspection/CMakeLists.txt b/introspection/CMakeLists.txt
index 88df6e84..de8a6464 100644
--- a/introspection/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/introspection/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,11 +3,11 @@
 
 include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc)
 include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc/api)
-include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc/libbpf/include/uapi)
+include_directories(${LIBBPF_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
 option(INSTALL_INTROSPECTION "Install BPF introspection tools" ON)
 
 add_executable(bps bps.c)
-target_link_libraries(bps bpf-static)
+target_link_libraries(bps ${LIBBPF_LIBRARIES})
 
 install (TARGETS bps DESTINATION share/bcc/introspection)
diff --git a/src/cc/CMakeLists.txt b/src/cc/CMakeLists.txt
index bd34fd48..dfbeb596 100644
--- a/src/cc/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/cc/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@ include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/frontends/clang)
 include_directories(${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 include_directories(${LIBELF_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 # todo: if check for kernel version
-include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/libbpf/include)
-include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/libbpf/include/uapi)
+include_directories(${LIBBPF_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 add_definitions(${LLVM_DEFINITIONS})
 configure_file(libbcc.pc.in ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/libbcc.pc @ONLY)
 
@@ -28,13 +27,6 @@ set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -DLLVM_MAJOR_VERSION=${CMAKE_MATCH_1}")
 
 include(static_libstdc++)
 
-file(GLOB libbpf_sources "libbpf/src/*.c")
-add_library(bpf-static STATIC libbpf.c perf_reader.c ${libbpf_sources})
-set_target_properties(bpf-static PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME bcc_bpf)
-add_library(bpf-shared SHARED libbpf.c perf_reader.c ${libbpf_sources})
-set_target_properties(bpf-shared PROPERTIES VERSION ${REVISION_LAST} SOVERSION 0)
-set_target_properties(bpf-shared PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME bcc_bpf)
-
 set(bcc_common_sources bcc_common.cc bpf_module.cc bcc_btf.cc exported_files.cc)
 if (${LLVM_PACKAGE_VERSION} VERSION_EQUAL 6 OR ${LLVM_PACKAGE_VERSION} VERSION_GREATER 6)
   set(bcc_common_sources ${bcc_common_sources} bcc_debug.cc)
@@ -79,12 +71,12 @@ set(CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS} ${llvm_lib_exclude_f
 
 # bcc_common_libs_for_a for archive libraries
 # bcc_common_libs_for_s for shared libraries
-set(bcc_common_libs_for_a b_frontend clang_frontend bpf-static
+set(bcc_common_libs_for_a b_frontend clang_frontend
   -Wl,--whole-archive ${clang_libs} ${llvm_libs} -Wl,--no-whole-archive
-  ${LIBELF_LIBRARIES})
+  ${LIBELF_LIBRARIES} ${LIBBPF_LIBRARIES})
 set(bcc_common_libs_for_s ${bcc_common_libs_for_a})
-set(bcc_common_libs_for_lua b_frontend clang_frontend bpf-static
-  ${clang_libs} ${llvm_libs} ${LIBELF_LIBRARIES})
+set(bcc_common_libs_for_lua b_frontend clang_frontend
+	${clang_libs} ${llvm_libs} ${LIBELF_LIBRARIES} ${LIBBPF_LIBRARIES})
 
 if(ENABLE_CPP_API)
   add_subdirectory(api)
@@ -111,8 +103,7 @@ set(bcc-lua-static ${bcc-lua-static} ${bcc_common_libs_for_lua})
 install(TARGETS bcc-shared LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
 install(FILES ${bcc_table_headers} DESTINATION include/bcc)
 install(FILES ${bcc_api_headers} DESTINATION include/bcc)
-install(DIRECTORY libbpf/include/uapi/linux/ DESTINATION include/bcc/compat/linux FILES_MATCHING PATTERN "*.h")
+#install(DIRECTORY libbpf/include/uapi/linux/ DESTINATION include/bcc/compat/linux FILES_MATCHING PATTERN "*.h")
 install(FILES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/libbcc.pc DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/pkgconfig)
 endif(ENABLE_CLANG_JIT)
 install(FILES ${bcc_common_headers} DESTINATION include/bcc)
-install(TARGETS bpf-shared LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
diff --git a/src/cc/bcc_btf.cc b/src/cc/bcc_btf.cc
index 12816757..29e4c707 100644
--- a/src/cc/bcc_btf.cc
+++ b/src/cc/bcc_btf.cc
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include "linux/btf.h"
 #include "libbpf.h"
-#include "libbpf/src/libbpf.h"
-#include "libbpf/src/btf.h"
+#include <bpf/libbpf.h>
+#include <bpf/btf.h>
 #include <vector>
 
 #define BCC_MAX_ERRNO       4095
diff --git a/src/cc/bpf_module.cc b/src/cc/bpf_module.cc
index 836c458f..eb03ce59 100644
--- a/src/cc/bpf_module.cc
+++ b/src/cc/bpf_module.cc
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
 #include "exported_files.h"
 #include "libbpf.h"
 #include "bcc_btf.h"
-#include "libbpf/src/bpf.h"
+#include <bpf/bpf.h>
 
 namespace ebpf {
 
diff --git a/src/cc/libbpf.c b/src/cc/libbpf.c
index 63f4894e..83147dbe 100644
--- a/src/cc/libbpf.c
+++ b/src/cc/libbpf.c
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@
 // TODO: Remove this when CentOS 6 support is not needed anymore
 #include "setns.h"
 
-#include "libbpf/src/bpf.h"
-#include "libbpf/src/libbpf.h"
+#include <bpf/bpf.h>
+#include <bpf/libbpf.h>
 
 // TODO: remove these defines when linux-libc-dev exports them properly
 
diff --git a/tests/cc/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/cc/CMakeLists.txt
index a47abe14..ae710eb4 100644
--- a/tests/cc/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/cc/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc)
 include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc/api)
-include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/cc/libbpf/include/uapi)
+include_directories(${LIBBPF_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
 add_executable(test_static test_static.c)
 target_link_libraries(test_static bcc-static)