diff --git a/autobuild.sh b/autobuild.sh
index acfe0745fd..28defa8d85 100755
--- a/autobuild.sh
+++ b/autobuild.sh
@@ -183,5 +183,7 @@ else
 	if [ "$SPDK_TEST_OCF" -eq 1 ]; then
 		run_test "autobuild_ocf_precompile" ocf_precompile
 	fi
+	# if we aren't testing the unittests, build with shared objects.
+	./configure $config_params --with-shared
 	run_test "make" $MAKE $MAKEFLAGS
 fi
diff --git a/autotest.sh b/autotest.sh
index 7cff455448..91739e1eb2 100755
--- a/autotest.sh
+++ b/autotest.sh
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ source "$1"
 source "$rootdir/test/common/autotest_common.sh"
 source "$rootdir/test/nvmf/common.sh"
 
+# always test with SPDK shared objects.
+export SPDK_LIB_DIR="$rootdir/build/lib"
+export DPDK_LIB_DIR="$rootdir/dpdk/build/lib"
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$SPDK_LIB_DIR:$DPDK_LIB_DIR
+
 if [ $EUID -ne 0 ]; then
 	echo "$0 must be run as root"
 	exit 1
diff --git a/test/nvme/hotplug.sh b/test/nvme/hotplug.sh
index b061cb26d3..af20b26993 100755
--- a/test/nvme/hotplug.sh
+++ b/test/nvme/hotplug.sh
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ insert_devices
 
 timing_enter hotplug_test
 
-ssh_vm "build/examples/hotplug -i 0 -t 25 -n 4 -r 8" &
+ssh_vm "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/root//build/lib:/root/dpdk/build/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH build/examples/hotplug -i 0 -t 25 -n 4 -r 8" &
 example_pid=$!
 
 sleep 4