diff --git a/.ci/linux-build.sh b/.ci/linux-build.sh
index ccc3a7ccd9..c7c3840fc2 100755
--- a/.ci/linux-build.sh
+++ b/.ci/linux-build.sh
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ if [ "$BUILD_32BIT" = "1" ]; then
 fi
 
 OPTS="$OPTS --default-library=$DEF_LIB"
+OPTS="$OPTS --buildtype=debugoptimized"
 meson build --werror -Dexamples=all $OPTS
 ninja -C build
 
@@ -36,6 +37,29 @@ if [ "$AARCH64" != "1" ]; then
     devtools/test-null.sh
 fi
 
+if [ "$ABI_CHECKS" = "1" ]; then
+    REF_GIT_REPO=${REF_GIT_REPO:-https://dpdk.org/git/dpdk}
+    REF_GIT_TAG=${REF_GIT_TAG:-v19.11}
+
+    if [ "$(cat reference/VERSION 2>/dev/null)" != "$REF_GIT_TAG" ]; then
+        rm -rf reference
+    fi
+
+    if [ ! -d reference ]; then
+        refsrcdir=$(readlink -f $(pwd)/../dpdk-$REF_GIT_TAG)
+        git clone --single-branch -b $REF_GIT_TAG $REF_GIT_REPO $refsrcdir
+        meson --werror $OPTS $refsrcdir $refsrcdir/build
+        ninja -C $refsrcdir/build
+        DESTDIR=$(pwd)/reference ninja -C $refsrcdir/build install
+        devtools/gen-abi.sh reference
+        echo $REF_GIT_TAG > reference/VERSION
+    fi
+
+    DESTDIR=$(pwd)/install ninja -C build install
+    devtools/gen-abi.sh install
+    devtools/check-abi.sh reference install ${ABI_CHECKS_WARN_ONLY:-}
+fi
+
 if [ "$RUN_TESTS" = "1" ]; then
     sudo meson test -C build --suite fast-tests -t 3
 fi
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 8162f1c059..22539d8238 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 language: c
-cache: ccache
+cache:
+  ccache: true
+  directories:
+    - reference
 compiler:
   - gcc
   - clang
@@ -21,7 +24,7 @@ aarch64_packages: &aarch64_packages
 
 extra_packages: &extra_packages
   - *required_packages
-  - [libbsd-dev, libpcap-dev, libcrypto++-dev, libjansson4]
+  - [libbsd-dev, libpcap-dev, libcrypto++-dev, libjansson4, abigail-tools]
 
 build_32b_packages: &build_32b_packages
   - *required_packages
@@ -151,5 +154,18 @@ matrix:
         packages:
           - *required_packages
           - *doc_packages
+  - env: DEF_LIB="shared" EXTRA_PACKAGES=1 ABI_CHECKS=1
+    compiler: gcc
+    addons:
+      apt:
+        packages:
+          - *extra_packages
+  - env: DEF_LIB="shared" EXTRA_PACKAGES=1 ABI_CHECKS=1
+    arch: arm64
+    compiler: gcc
+    addons:
+      apt:
+        packages:
+          - *extra_packages
 
 script: ./.ci/${TRAVIS_OS_NAME}-build.sh
diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 8047aaf2a1..08aa0d8a81 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -144,8 +144,11 @@ M: Neil Horman <nhorman@tuxdriver.com>
 F: lib/librte_eal/common/include/rte_compat.h
 F: lib/librte_eal/common/include/rte_function_versioning.h
 F: doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
+F: devtools/check-abi.sh
 F: devtools/check-abi-version.sh
 F: devtools/check-symbol-change.sh
+F: devtools/gen-abi.sh
+F: devtools/libabigail.abignore
 F: devtools/update-abi.sh
 F: devtools/update_version_map_abi.py
 F: devtools/validate-abi.sh
diff --git a/devtools/check-abi.sh b/devtools/check-abi.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..0b4d1a37e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devtools/check-abi.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+# Copyright (c) 2019 Red Hat, Inc.
+
+if [ $# != 2 ] && [ $# != 3 ]; then
+	echo "Usage: $0 refdir newdir [warnonly]"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+refdir=$1
+newdir=$2
+warnonly=${3:-}
+ABIDIFF_OPTIONS="--suppr $(dirname $0)/libabigail.abignore --no-added-syms"
+
+if [ ! -d $refdir ]; then
+	echo "Error: reference directory '$refdir' does not exist."
+	exit 1
+fi
+incdir=$(find $refdir -type d -a -name include)
+if [ -z "$incdir" ] || [ ! -e "$incdir" ]; then
+	echo "WARNING: could not identify a include directory for $refdir, expect false positives..."
+else
+	ABIDIFF_OPTIONS="$ABIDIFF_OPTIONS --headers-dir1 $incdir"
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d $newdir ]; then
+	echo "Error: directory to check '$newdir' does not exist."
+	exit 1
+fi
+incdir2=$(find $newdir -type d -a -name include)
+if [ -z "$incdir2" ] || [ ! -e "$incdir2" ]; then
+	echo "WARNING: could not identify a include directory for $newdir, expect false positives..."
+else
+	ABIDIFF_OPTIONS="$ABIDIFF_OPTIONS --headers-dir2 $incdir2"
+fi
+
+error=
+for dump in $(find $refdir -name "*.dump"); do
+	name=$(basename $dump)
+	# skip glue drivers, example librte_pmd_mlx5_glue.dump
+	# We can't rely on a suppression rule for now:
+	# https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=25480
+	if [ "$name" != "${name%%_glue.dump}" ]; then
+		echo "Skipping ${dump}..."
+		continue
+	fi
+	dump2=$(find $newdir -name $name)
+	if [ -z "$dump2" ] || [ ! -e "$dump2" ]; then
+		echo "Error: can't find $name in $newdir"
+		error=1
+		continue
+	fi
+	if ! abidiff $ABIDIFF_OPTIONS $dump $dump2; then
+		echo "Error: ABI issue reported for 'abidiff $ABIDIFF_OPTIONS $dump $dump2'"
+		error=1
+	fi
+done
+
+[ -z "$error" ] || [ -n "$warnonly" ]
diff --git a/devtools/gen-abi.sh b/devtools/gen-abi.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..c44b0e228a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devtools/gen-abi.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+# Copyright (c) 2019 Red Hat, Inc.
+
+if [ $# != 1 ]; then
+	echo "Usage: $0 installdir"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+installdir=$1
+if [ ! -d $installdir ]; then
+	echo "Error: install directory '$installdir' does not exist."
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+dumpdir=$installdir/dump
+rm -rf $dumpdir
+mkdir -p $dumpdir
+for f in $(find $installdir -name "*.so.*"); do
+	if test -L $f; then
+		continue
+	fi
+
+	libname=$(basename $f)
+	abidw --out-file $dumpdir/${libname%.so*}.dump $f
+done
diff --git a/devtools/libabigail.abignore b/devtools/libabigail.abignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a59df8f135
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devtools/libabigail.abignore
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+[suppress_function]
+        symbol_version = EXPERIMENTAL
+[suppress_variable]
+        symbol_version = EXPERIMENTAL
+
+; Explicit ignore for driver-only ABI
+[suppress_type]
+        name = rte_cryptodev_ops
+; Ignore this enum update as it is part of an experimental API
+[suppress_type]
+        type_kind = enum
+        name = rte_crypto_asym_xform_type
+        changed_enumerators = RTE_CRYPTO_ASYM_XFORM_TYPE_LIST_END
diff --git a/devtools/test-build.sh b/devtools/test-build.sh
index 52305fbb8c..c30c53d189 100755
--- a/devtools/test-build.sh
+++ b/devtools/test-build.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ default_path=$PATH
 
 # Load config options:
 # - ARMV8_CRYPTO_LIB_PATH
+# - DPDK_ABI_REF_DIR
+# - DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION
 # - DPDK_BUILD_TEST_CONFIGS (defconfig1+option1+option2 defconfig2)
 # - DPDK_BUILD_TEST_DIR
 # - DPDK_DEP_ARCHIVE
@@ -30,7 +32,8 @@ default_path=$PATH
 # - LIBSSO_SNOW3G_PATH
 # - LIBSSO_KASUMI_PATH
 # - LIBSSO_ZUC_PATH
-. $(dirname $(readlink -f $0))/load-devel-config
+devtools_dir=$(dirname $(readlink -f $0))
+. $devtools_dir/load-devel-config
 
 print_usage () {
 	echo "usage: $(basename $0) [-h] [-jX] [-s] [config1 [config2] ...]]"
@@ -67,7 +70,8 @@ J=$DPDK_MAKE_JOBS
 builds_dir=${DPDK_BUILD_TEST_DIR:-.}
 short=false
 unset verbose
-maxerr=-Wfatal-errors
+# for ABI checks, we need debuginfo
+test_cflags="-Wfatal-errors -g"
 while getopts hj:sv ARG ; do
 	case $ARG in
 		j ) J=$OPTARG ;;
@@ -97,7 +101,7 @@ trap "signal=INT ; trap - INT ; kill -INT $$" INT
 # notify result on exit
 trap on_exit EXIT
 
-cd $(dirname $(readlink -f $0))/..
+cd $devtools_dir/..
 
 reset_env ()
 {
@@ -233,14 +237,14 @@ for conf in $configs ; do
 	# reload config with DPDK_TARGET set
 	DPDK_TARGET=$target
 	reset_env
-	. $(dirname $(readlink -f $0))/load-devel-config
+	. $devtools_dir/load-devel-config
 
 	options=$(echo $conf | sed 's,[^~+]*,,')
 	dir=$builds_dir/$conf
 	config $dir $target $options
 
 	echo "================== Build $conf"
-	${MAKE} -j$J EXTRA_CFLAGS="$maxerr $DPDK_DEP_CFLAGS" \
+	${MAKE} -j$J EXTRA_CFLAGS="$test_cflags $DPDK_DEP_CFLAGS" \
 		EXTRA_LDFLAGS="$DPDK_DEP_LDFLAGS" $verbose O=$dir
 	! $short || break
 	export RTE_TARGET=$target
@@ -253,6 +257,43 @@ for conf in $configs ; do
 		EXTRA_LDFLAGS="$DPDK_DEP_LDFLAGS" $verbose \
 		O=$(readlink -f $dir)/examples
 	unset RTE_TARGET
+	if [ -n "$DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION" ]; then
+		abirefdir=${DPDK_ABI_REF_DIR:-reference}/$DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION
+		if [ ! -d $abirefdir/$conf ]; then
+			# clone current sources
+			if [ ! -d $abirefdir/src ]; then
+				git clone --local --no-hardlinks \
+					--single-branch \
+					-b $DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION \
+					$(pwd) $abirefdir/src
+			fi
+
+			cd $abirefdir/src
+
+			rm -rf $abirefdir/build
+			config $abirefdir/build $target $options
+
+			echo -n "================== Build $conf "
+			echo "($DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION)"
+			${MAKE} -j$J \
+				EXTRA_CFLAGS="$test_cflags $DPDK_DEP_CFLAGS" \
+				EXTRA_LDFLAGS="$DPDK_DEP_LDFLAGS" $verbose \
+				O=$abirefdir/build
+			export RTE_TARGET=$target
+			${MAKE} install O=$abirefdir/build \
+				DESTDIR=$abirefdir/$conf \
+				prefix=
+			unset RTE_TARGET
+			$devtools_dir/gen-abi.sh $abirefdir/$conf
+
+			# back to current workdir
+			cd $devtools_dir/..
+		fi
+
+		echo "================== Check ABI $conf"
+		$devtools_dir/gen-abi.sh $dir/install
+		$devtools_dir/check-abi.sh $abirefdir/$conf $dir/install
+	fi
 	echo "################## $conf done."
 	unset dir
 done
diff --git a/devtools/test-meson-builds.sh b/devtools/test-meson-builds.sh
index fb6c404e52..c2d33b3b9f 100755
--- a/devtools/test-meson-builds.sh
+++ b/devtools/test-meson-builds.sh
@@ -64,9 +64,18 @@ config () # <dir> <builddir> <meson options>
 	builddir=$1
 	shift
 	if [ -f "$builddir/build.ninja" ] ; then
+		# for existing environments, switch to debugoptimized if unset
+		# so that ABI checks can run
+		if ! $MESON configure $builddir |
+				awk '$1=="buildtype" {print $2}' |
+				grep -qw debugoptimized; then
+			$MESON configure --buildtype=debugoptimized $builddir
+		fi
 		return
 	fi
-	options="--werror -Dexamples=all"
+	options=
+	options="$options --werror -Dexamples=all"
+	options="$options --buildtype=debugoptimized"
 	for option in $DPDK_MESON_OPTIONS ; do
 		options="$options -D$option"
 	done
@@ -92,6 +101,13 @@ compile () # <builddir>
 	fi
 }
 
+install_target () # <builddir> <installdir>
+{
+	rm -rf $2
+	echo "DESTDIR=$2 $ninja_cmd -C $1 install"
+	DESTDIR=$2 $ninja_cmd -C $1 install
+}
+
 build () # <directory> <target compiler> <meson options>
 {
 	targetdir=$1
@@ -103,6 +119,31 @@ build () # <directory> <target compiler> <meson options>
 	load_env $targetcc || return 0
 	config $srcdir $builds_dir/$targetdir $*
 	compile $builds_dir/$targetdir
+	if [ -n "$DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION" ]; then
+		abirefdir=${DPDK_ABI_REF_DIR:-reference}/$DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION
+		if [ ! -d $abirefdir/$targetdir ]; then
+			# clone current sources
+			if [ ! -d $abirefdir/src ]; then
+				git clone --local --no-hardlinks \
+					--single-branch \
+					-b $DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION \
+					$srcdir $abirefdir/src
+			fi
+
+			rm -rf $abirefdir/build
+			config $abirefdir/src $abirefdir/build $*
+			compile $abirefdir/build
+			install_target $abirefdir/build $abirefdir/$targetdir
+			$srcdir/devtools/gen-abi.sh $abirefdir/$targetdir
+		fi
+
+		install_target $builds_dir/$targetdir \
+			$(readlink -f $builds_dir/$targetdir/install)
+		$srcdir/devtools/gen-abi.sh \
+			$(readlink -f $builds_dir/$targetdir/install)
+		$srcdir/devtools/check-abi.sh $abirefdir/$targetdir \
+			$(readlink -f $builds_dir/$targetdir/install)
+	fi
 }
 
 if [ "$1" = "-vv" ] ; then
@@ -153,8 +194,11 @@ done
 # Test installation of the x86-default target, to be used for checking
 # the sample apps build using the pkg-config file for cflags and libs
 build_path=$(readlink -f $builds_dir/build-x86-default)
-export DESTDIR=$build_path/install-root
-$ninja_cmd -C $build_path install
+export DESTDIR=$build_path/install
+# No need to reinstall if ABI checks are enabled
+if [ -z "$DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION" ]; then
+	install_target $build_path $DESTDIR
+fi
 
 load_env cc
 pc_file=$(find $DESTDIR -name libdpdk.pc)
diff --git a/doc/guides/contributing/patches.rst b/doc/guides/contributing/patches.rst
index 0686450e45..59442824a1 100644
--- a/doc/guides/contributing/patches.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/contributing/patches.rst
@@ -513,6 +513,21 @@ in a single subfolder called "__builds" created in the current directory.
 Setting ``DPDK_BUILD_TEST_DIR`` to an absolute directory path e.g. ``/tmp`` is also supported.
 
 
+Checking ABI compatibility
+--------------------------
+
+By default, ABI compatibility checks are disabled.
+
+To enable them, a reference version must be selected via the environment
+variable ``DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION``.
+
+The ``devtools/test-build.sh`` and ``devtools/test-meson-builds.sh`` scripts
+then build this reference version in a temporary directory and store the
+results in a subfolder of the current working directory.
+The environment variable ``DPDK_ABI_REF_DIR`` can be set so that the results go
+to a different location.
+
+
 Sending Patches
 ---------------