diff --git a/CONFIG b/CONFIG
index 28f4ab0e8b..951aa21585 100644
--- a/CONFIG
+++ b/CONFIG
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ CONFIG_UBSAN?=n
 # Build with Thread Sanitizer enabled
 CONFIG_TSAN?=n
 
+# Build tests
+CONFIG_TESTS?=y
+
 # Directory that contains the desired SPDK environment library.
 # By default, this is implemented using DPDK.
 CONFIG_ENV?=$(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/lib/env_dpdk
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e7d2d547e0..25b1fbab85 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ S :=
 SPDK_ROOT_DIR := $(CURDIR)
 include $(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/mk/spdk.common.mk
 
-DIRS-y += lib test examples app include
+DIRS-y += lib examples app include
+DIRS-$(CONFIG_TESTS) += test
 
 .PHONY: all clean $(DIRS-y) config.h CONFIG.local mk/cc.mk cc_version cxx_version
 
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 1531ca34c3..6804bfc33b 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ function usage()
 	echo " --enable-ubsan            Enable undefined behavior sanitizer"
 	echo " --enable-coverage         Enable code coverage tracking"
 	echo " --enable-lto              Enable link-time optimization"
+	echo " --disable-tests           Disable building of tests"
 	echo " --with-env=path           Use an alternate environment implementation"
 	echo ""
 	echo "Specifying Dependencies:"
@@ -101,6 +102,12 @@ for i in "$@"; do
 		--disable-lto)
 			CONFIG_LTO=n
 			;;
+		--enable-tests)
+			CONFIG_TESTS=y
+			;;
+		--disable-tests)
+			CONFIG_TESTS=n
+			;;
 		--enable-werror)
 			CONFIG_WERROR=y
 			;;
@@ -233,6 +240,9 @@ fi
 if [ -n "$CONFIG_LTO" ]; then
 	echo "CONFIG_LTO?=$CONFIG_LTO" >> CONFIG.local
 fi
+if [ -n "$CONFIG_TESTS" ]; then
+	echo "CONFIG_TESTS?=$CONFIG_TESTS" >> CONFIG.local
+fi
 if [ -n "$CONFIG_ASAN" ]; then
 	echo "CONFIG_ASAN?=$CONFIG_ASAN" >> CONFIG.local
 fi