diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/mlx4.rst b/doc/guides/nics/mlx4.rst
index c33aa389e7..562db060b0 100644
--- a/doc/guides/nics/mlx4.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/nics/mlx4.rst
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ There is also a `section dedicated to this poll mode driver
    be enabled manually by setting ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_PMD=y`` and
    recompiling DPDK.
 
+.. warning::
+
+   ``CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_COMBINE_LIBS`` with ``CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_SHARED_LIB``
+   is not supported and thus the compilation will fail with this configuration.
+
 Implementation details
 ----------------------
 
diff --git a/drivers/net/mlx4/Makefile b/drivers/net/mlx4/Makefile
index 14cb53f6af..23b766df14 100644
--- a/drivers/net/mlx4/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/net/mlx4/Makefile
@@ -31,6 +31,12 @@
 
 include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.vars.mk
 
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_COMBINE_LIBS)$(CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_SHARED_LIB),yy)
+all:
+	@echo 'MLX4: Not supported in a combined shared library'
+	@false
+endif
+
 # Library name.
 LIB = librte_pmd_mlx4.a
 
@@ -50,6 +56,7 @@ CFLAGS += -g
 CFLAGS += -I.
 CFLAGS += -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=600
 CFLAGS += $(WERROR_FLAGS)
+LDLIBS += -libverbs
 
 # A few warnings cannot be avoided in external headers.
 CFLAGS += -Wno-error=cast-qual
diff --git a/mk/rte.app.mk b/mk/rte.app.mk
index 97719cb086..3871205f46 100644
--- a/mk/rte.app.mk
+++ b/mk/rte.app.mk
@@ -100,7 +100,10 @@ ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_VHOST_USER),n)
 _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_VHOST)          += -lfuse
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_SHARED_LIB),n)
 _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_PMD)       += -libverbs
+endif # ! CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS
+
 _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_BNX2X_PMD)      += -lz
 
 _LDLIBS-y += --start-group