diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d6c5c9fdef..643041dc04 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,288 +1,68 @@
-# Makefile for QEMU.
+# Makefile for the QEMU source directory.
 
 ifneq ($(words $(subst :, ,$(CURDIR))), 1)
   $(error main directory cannot contain spaces nor colons)
 endif
 
-# Always point to the root of the build tree (needs GNU make).
-BUILD_DIR=$(CURDIR)
+SRCPATH_GOALS = docker docker-% vm-% ctags TAGS cscope dist clean distclean recurse
+.PHONY: all clean distclean ctags TAGS cscope dist help
+.NOTPARALLEL: %
 
-# Before including a proper config-host.mak, assume we are in the source tree
-SRC_PATH=.
-
-# Don't use implicit rules or variables
-# we have explicit rules for everything
-MAKEFLAGS += -rR
-
-# Usage: $(call quiet-command,command and args,"NAME","args to print")
-# This will run "command and args", and either:
-#  if V=1 just print the whole command and args
-#  otherwise print the 'quiet' output in the format "  NAME     args to print"
-# NAME should be a short name of the command, 7 letters or fewer.
-# If called with only a single argument, will print nothing in quiet mode.
-quiet-command-run = $(if $(V),,$(if $2,printf "  %-7s %s\n" $2 $3 && ))$1
-quiet-@ = $(if $(V),,@)
-quiet-command = $(quiet-@)$(call quiet-command-run,$1,$2,$3)
-
-UNCHECKED_GOALS := %clean TAGS cscope ctags dist \
-    help check-help print-% \
-    docker docker-% vm-help vm-test vm-build-%
-
-# All following code might depend on configuration variables
-ifneq ($(wildcard config-host.mak),)
-# Put the all: rule here so that config-host.mak can contain dependencies.
 all:
-include config-host.mak
-
-git-submodule-update:
-
-.PHONY: git-submodule-update
-
-git_module_status := $(shell \
-  cd '$(SRC_PATH)' && \
-  GIT="$(GIT)" ./scripts/git-submodule.sh status $(GIT_SUBMODULES); \
-  echo $$?; \
-)
-
-ifeq (1,$(git_module_status))
-ifeq (no,$(GIT_UPDATE))
-git-submodule-update:
-	$(call quiet-command, \
-            echo && \
-            echo "GIT submodule checkout is out of date. Please run" && \
-            echo "  scripts/git-submodule.sh update $(GIT_SUBMODULES)" && \
-            echo "from the source directory checkout $(SRC_PATH)" && \
-            echo && \
-            exit 1)
-else
-git-submodule-update:
-	$(call quiet-command, \
-          (cd $(SRC_PATH) && GIT="$(GIT)" ./scripts/git-submodule.sh update $(GIT_SUBMODULES)), \
-          "GIT","$(GIT_SUBMODULES)")
-endif
-endif
-
-export NINJA=./ninjatool
-
-# Running meson regenerates both build.ninja and ninjatool, and that is
-# enough to prime the rest of the build.
-ninjatool: build.ninja
-
-Makefile.ninja: build.ninja ninjatool
-	./ninjatool -t ninja2make --omit clean dist uninstall cscope TAGS ctags < $< > $@
--include Makefile.ninja
-
-${ninja-targets-c_COMPILER} ${ninja-targets-cpp_COMPILER}: .var.command += -MP
-
-# If MESON is empty, the rule will be re-evaluated after Makefiles are
-# reread (and MESON won't be empty anymore).
-ifneq ($(MESON),)
-Makefile.mtest: build.ninja scripts/mtest2make.py
-	$(MESON) introspect --tests --benchmarks | $(PYTHON) scripts/mtest2make.py > $@
--include Makefile.mtest
-endif
-
-Makefile: .git-submodule-status
-.git-submodule-status: git-submodule-update config-host.mak
-
-# Check that we're not trying to do an out-of-tree build from
-# a tree that's been used for an in-tree build.
-ifneq ($(realpath $(SRC_PATH)),$(realpath .))
-ifneq ($(wildcard $(SRC_PATH)/config-host.mak),)
-$(error This is an out of tree build but your source tree ($(SRC_PATH)) \
-seems to have been used for an in-tree build. You can fix this by running \
-"$(MAKE) distclean && rm -rf *-linux-user *-softmmu" in your source tree)
-endif
-endif
-
-config-host.mak: $(SRC_PATH)/configure $(SRC_PATH)/pc-bios $(SRC_PATH)/VERSION
-	@echo $@ is out-of-date, running configure
-	@if test -f meson-private/coredata.dat; then \
-	  ./config.status --skip-meson; \
-	else \
-	  ./config.status; \
-	fi
-
-# Force configure to re-run if the API symbols are updated
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_PLUGIN),y)
-config-host.mak: $(SRC_PATH)/plugins/qemu-plugins.symbols
-endif
-
-else
-config-host.mak:
-ifneq ($(filter-out $(UNCHECKED_GOALS),$(MAKECMDGOALS)),$(if $(MAKECMDGOALS),,fail))
-	@echo "Please call configure before running make!"
-	@exit 1
-endif
-endif
-
-# Only needed in case Makefile.ninja does not exist.
-.PHONY: ninja-clean ninja-distclean clean-ctlist
-clean-ctlist:
-ninja-clean::
-ninja-distclean::
-build.ninja: config-host.mak
-
-# Don't try to regenerate Makefile or configure
-# We don't generate any of them
-Makefile: ;
-configure: ;
-
-.PHONY: all clean cscope distclean install \
-	recurse-all dist msi FORCE
-
-SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS=$(if $(V),,--no-print-directory --quiet)
+clean:; @:
+distclean::; @:
 
-include $(SRC_PATH)/tests/Makefile.include
-
-all: recurse-all
-Makefile: $(addsuffix /all, $(SUBDIRS))
-
-# LIBFDT_lib="": avoid breaking existing trees with objects requiring -fPIC
-DTC_MAKE_ARGS=-I$(SRC_PATH)/dtc VPATH=$(SRC_PATH)/dtc -C dtc V="$(V)" LIBFDT_lib=""
-DTC_CFLAGS=$(CFLAGS) $(QEMU_CFLAGS)
-DTC_CPPFLAGS=-I$(SRC_PATH)/dtc/libfdt
-
-.PHONY: dtc/all
-dtc/all: .git-submodule-status dtc/libfdt
-	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) $(DTC_MAKE_ARGS) CPPFLAGS="$(DTC_CPPFLAGS)" CFLAGS="$(DTC_CFLAGS)" LDFLAGS="$(QEMU_LDFLAGS)" ARFLAGS="$(ARFLAGS)" CC="$(CC)" AR="$(AR)" LD="$(LD)" $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) libfdt,)
-
-dtc/%: .git-submodule-status
-	@mkdir -p $@
-
-# Overriding CFLAGS causes us to lose defines added in the sub-makefile.
-# Not overriding CFLAGS leads to mis-matches between compilation modes.
-# Therefore we replicate some of the logic in the sub-makefile.
-# Remove all the extra -Warning flags that QEMU uses that Capstone doesn't;
-# no need to annoy QEMU developers with such things.
-CAP_CFLAGS = $(patsubst -W%,,$(CFLAGS) $(QEMU_CFLAGS)) $(CAPSTONE_CFLAGS)
-CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_USE_SYS_DYN_MEM
-CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_HAS_ARM
-CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_HAS_ARM64
-CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_HAS_POWERPC
-CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_HAS_X86
-
-.PHONY: capstone/all
-capstone/all: .git-submodule-status
-	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) -C $(SRC_PATH)/capstone CAPSTONE_SHARED=no BUILDDIR="$(BUILD_DIR)/capstone" CC="$(CC)" AR="$(AR)" LD="$(LD)" RANLIB="$(RANLIB)" CFLAGS="$(CAP_CFLAGS)" $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) $(BUILD_DIR)/capstone/$(LIBCAPSTONE))
-
-.PHONY: slirp/all
-slirp/all: .git-submodule-status
-	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) -C $(SRC_PATH)/slirp		\
-		BUILD_DIR="$(BUILD_DIR)/slirp" 			\
-		PKG_CONFIG="$(PKG_CONFIG)" 				\
-		CC="$(CC)" AR="$(AR)" 	LD="$(LD)" RANLIB="$(RANLIB)"	\
-		CFLAGS="$(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS)" LDFLAGS="$(QEMU_LDFLAGS)")
-
-ROM_DIRS = $(addprefix pc-bios/, $(ROMS))
-ROM_DIRS_RULES=$(foreach t, all clean, $(addsuffix /$(t), $(ROM_DIRS)))
-# Only keep -O and -g cflags
-.PHONY: $(ROM_DIRS_RULES)
-$(ROM_DIRS_RULES):
-	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) -C $(dir $@) V="$(V)" TARGET_DIR="$(dir $@)" $(notdir $@),)
-
-.PHONY: recurse-all recurse-clean
-recurse-all: $(addsuffix /all, $(ROM_DIRS))
-recurse-clean: $(addsuffix /clean, $(ROM_DIRS))
-
-######################################################################
-
-clean: recurse-clean ninja-clean clean-ctlist
-	if test -f ninjatool; then ./ninjatool $(if $(V),-v,) -t clean; fi
-# avoid old build problems by removing potentially incorrect old files
-	rm -f config.mak op-i386.h opc-i386.h gen-op-i386.h op-arm.h opc-arm.h gen-op-arm.h
-	find . \( -name '*.so' -o -name '*.dll' -o -name '*.[oda]' \) -type f \
-		! -path ./roms/edk2/ArmPkg/Library/GccLto/liblto-aarch64.a \
-		! -path ./roms/edk2/ArmPkg/Library/GccLto/liblto-arm.a \
-		! -path ./roms/edk2/BaseTools/Source/Python/UPT/Dll/sqlite3.dll \
-		-exec rm {} +
-	rm -f TAGS cscope.* *.pod *~ */*~
-	rm -f fsdev/*.pod scsi/*.pod
-
-VERSION = $(shell cat $(SRC_PATH)/VERSION)
-
-dist: qemu-$(VERSION).tar.bz2
-
-qemu-%.tar.bz2:
-	$(SRC_PATH)/scripts/make-release "$(SRC_PATH)" "$(patsubst qemu-%.tar.bz2,%,$@)"
-
-distclean: clean ninja-distclean
-	-test -f ninjatool && ./ninjatool $(if $(V),-v,) -t clean -g
-	rm -f config-host.mak config-host.h*
-	rm -f tests/tcg/config-*.mak
-	rm -f config-all-disas.mak config.status
-	rm -f tests/qemu-iotests/common.env
-	rm -f roms/seabios/config.mak roms/vgabios/config.mak
-	rm -f qemu-plugins-ld.symbols qemu-plugins-ld64.symbols
-	rm -f *-config-target.h *-config-devices.mak *-config-devices.h
-	rm -rf meson-private meson-logs meson-info compile_commands.json
-	rm -f Makefile.ninja ninjatool ninjatool.stamp Makefile.mtest
-	rm -f config.log
-	rm -f linux-headers/asm
-	rm -Rf .sdk
-
-.PHONY: ctags
 ctags:
 	rm -f tags
-	find "$(SRC_PATH)" -name '*.[hc]' -exec ctags --append {} +
+	find . -name '*.[hc]' -exec ctags --append {} +
 
-.PHONY: TAGS
 TAGS:
 	rm -f TAGS
-	find "$(SRC_PATH)" -name '*.[hc]' -exec etags --append {} +
+	find . -name '*.[hc]' -exec etags --append {} +
 
-.PHONY: cscope
 cscope:
-	rm -f "$(SRC_PATH)"/cscope.*
-	find "$(SRC_PATH)/" -name "*.[chsS]" -print | sed -e 's,^\./,,' > "$(SRC_PATH)/cscope.files"
-	cscope -b -i"$(SRC_PATH)/cscope.files"
+	rm -f ./cscope.*
+	find . -name "*.[chsS]" -print | sed -e 's,^\./,,' > "./cscope.files"
+	cscope -b -i./cscope.files
+
+VERSION = $(shell cat VERSION)
+.PHONY: dist
+dist: qemu-$(VERSION).tar.bz2
+qemu-%.tar.bz2:
+	./scripts/make-release . "$(patsubst qemu-%.tar.bz2,%,$@)"
 
-# Needed by "meson install"
-export DESTDIR
+SRC_PATH = .
+include tests/docker/Makefile.include
+include tests/vm/Makefile.include
 
-include $(SRC_PATH)/tests/docker/Makefile.include
-include $(SRC_PATH)/tests/vm/Makefile.include
+print-help = @printf "  %-30s - %s\\n" "$1" "$2"
 
-print-help-run = printf "  %-30s - %s\\n" "$1" "$2"
-print-help = $(quiet-@)$(call print-help-run,$1,$2)
+# Fake in-tree build support
+
+ifeq ($(wildcard build/auto-created-by-configure),)
+all: help
+	@exit 1
 
-.PHONY: help
 help:
+	@echo 'This is not a build directory.'
+	@echo 'Please call configure to build QEMU.'
+	@echo  ''
 	@echo  'Generic targets:'
-	$(call print-help,all,Build all)
-	$(call print-help,dir/file.o,Build specified target only)
-	$(call print-help,install,Install QEMU, documentation and tools)
 	$(call print-help,ctags/TAGS,Generate tags file for editors)
 	$(call print-help,cscope,Generate cscope index)
-	$(call print-help,sparse,Run sparse on the QEMU source)
-	@echo  ''
-	@echo  'Cleaning targets:'
-	$(call print-help,clean,Remove most generated files but keep the config)
-	$(call print-help,distclean,Remove all generated files)
 	$(call print-help,dist,Build a distributable tarball)
 	@echo  ''
 	@echo  'Test targets:'
-	$(call print-help,check,Run all tests (check-help for details))
-	$(call print-help,bench,Run all benchmarks)
 	$(call print-help,docker,Help about targets running tests inside containers)
 	$(call print-help,vm-help,Help about targets running tests inside VM)
-	@echo  ''
-	@echo  'Documentation targets:'
-	$(call print-help,html info pdf txt man,Build documentation in specified format)
-	@echo  ''
-ifdef CONFIG_WIN32
-	@echo  'Windows targets:'
-	$(call print-help,installer,Build NSIS-based installer for QEMU)
-ifdef QEMU_GA_MSI_ENABLED
-	$(call print-help,msi,Build MSI-based installer for qemu-ga)
-endif
-	@echo  ''
-endif
-	$(call print-help,$(MAKE) [targets],(quiet build, default))
-	$(call print-help,$(MAKE) V=1 [targets],(verbose build))
-
-# will delete the target of a rule if commands exit with a nonzero exit status
-.DELETE_ON_ERROR:
 
-print-%:
-	@echo '$*=$($*)'
+else
+$(filter-out $(SRCPATH_GOALS), all $(MAKECMDGOALS)): recurse
+.PHONY: $(MAKECMDGOALS)
+recurse:
+	@echo 'changing dir to build for $(MAKE) "$(MAKECMDGOALS)"...'
+	@$(MAKE) -C build -f Makefile $(MAKECMDGOALS)
+
+distclean::
+	rm -rf build
+endif
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile.build
similarity index 90%
copy from Makefile
copy to Makefile.build
index d6c5c9fdef..1c75d4e3b5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile.build
@@ -24,14 +24,7 @@ quiet-command-run = $(if $(V),,$(if $2,printf "  %-7s %s\n" $2 $3 && ))$1
 quiet-@ = $(if $(V),,@)
 quiet-command = $(quiet-@)$(call quiet-command-run,$1,$2,$3)
 
-UNCHECKED_GOALS := %clean TAGS cscope ctags dist \
-    help check-help print-% \
-    docker docker-% vm-help vm-test vm-build-%
-
 # All following code might depend on configuration variables
-ifneq ($(wildcard config-host.mak),)
-# Put the all: rule here so that config-host.mak can contain dependencies.
-all:
 include config-host.mak
 
 git-submodule-update:
@@ -69,7 +62,7 @@ export NINJA=./ninjatool
 ninjatool: build.ninja
 
 Makefile.ninja: build.ninja ninjatool
-	./ninjatool -t ninja2make --omit clean dist uninstall cscope TAGS ctags < $< > $@
+	./ninjatool -t ninja2make --omit clean dist uninstall < $< > $@
 -include Makefile.ninja
 
 ${ninja-targets-c_COMPILER} ${ninja-targets-cpp_COMPILER}: .var.command += -MP
@@ -108,14 +101,6 @@ ifeq ($(CONFIG_PLUGIN),y)
 config-host.mak: $(SRC_PATH)/plugins/qemu-plugins.symbols
 endif
 
-else
-config-host.mak:
-ifneq ($(filter-out $(UNCHECKED_GOALS),$(MAKECMDGOALS)),$(if $(MAKECMDGOALS),,fail))
-	@echo "Please call configure before running make!"
-	@exit 1
-endif
-endif
-
 # Only needed in case Makefile.ninja does not exist.
 .PHONY: ninja-clean ninja-distclean clean-ctlist
 clean-ctlist:
@@ -128,8 +113,7 @@ build.ninja: config-host.mak
 Makefile: ;
 configure: ;
 
-.PHONY: all clean cscope distclean install \
-	recurse-all dist msi FORCE
+.PHONY: all clean distclean recurse-all dist msi
 
 SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS=$(if $(V),,--no-print-directory --quiet)
 
@@ -176,7 +160,6 @@ slirp/all: .git-submodule-status
 
 ROM_DIRS = $(addprefix pc-bios/, $(ROMS))
 ROM_DIRS_RULES=$(foreach t, all clean, $(addsuffix /$(t), $(ROM_DIRS)))
-# Only keep -O and -g cflags
 .PHONY: $(ROM_DIRS_RULES)
 $(ROM_DIRS_RULES):
 	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) -C $(dir $@) V="$(V)" TARGET_DIR="$(dir $@)" $(notdir $@),)
@@ -200,9 +183,7 @@ clean: recurse-clean ninja-clean clean-ctlist
 	rm -f fsdev/*.pod scsi/*.pod
 
 VERSION = $(shell cat $(SRC_PATH)/VERSION)
-
 dist: qemu-$(VERSION).tar.bz2
-
 qemu-%.tar.bz2:
 	$(SRC_PATH)/scripts/make-release "$(SRC_PATH)" "$(patsubst qemu-%.tar.bz2,%,$@)"
 
@@ -221,22 +202,6 @@ distclean: clean ninja-distclean
 	rm -f linux-headers/asm
 	rm -Rf .sdk
 
-.PHONY: ctags
-ctags:
-	rm -f tags
-	find "$(SRC_PATH)" -name '*.[hc]' -exec ctags --append {} +
-
-.PHONY: TAGS
-TAGS:
-	rm -f TAGS
-	find "$(SRC_PATH)" -name '*.[hc]' -exec etags --append {} +
-
-.PHONY: cscope
-cscope:
-	rm -f "$(SRC_PATH)"/cscope.*
-	find "$(SRC_PATH)/" -name "*.[chsS]" -print | sed -e 's,^\./,,' > "$(SRC_PATH)/cscope.files"
-	cscope -b -i"$(SRC_PATH)/cscope.files"
-
 # Needed by "meson install"
 export DESTDIR
 
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 91c5d78184..dffbde47a5 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -33,29 +33,6 @@ then
 
     mkdir build
     touch $MARKER
-
-    cat > GNUmakefile <<'EOF'
-# This file is auto-generated by configure to support in-source tree
-# 'make' command invocation
-
-ifeq ($(MAKECMDGOALS),)
-recurse: all
-endif
-
-.NOTPARALLEL: %
-%: force
-	@echo 'changing dir to build for $(MAKE) "$(MAKECMDGOALS)"...'
-	@$(MAKE) -C build -f Makefile $(MAKECMDGOALS)
-	@if test "$(MAKECMDGOALS)" = "distclean" && \
-	    test -e build/auto-created-by-configure ; \
-	then \
-	    rm -rf build GNUmakefile ; \
-	fi
-force: ;
-.PHONY: force
-GNUmakefile: ;
-
-EOF
     cd build
     exec $source_path/configure "$@"
 fi
@@ -7856,7 +7833,6 @@ DIRS="$DIRS tests/qtest tests/qemu-iotests tests/vm tests/fp tests/qgraph"
 DIRS="$DIRS docs docs/interop fsdev scsi"
 DIRS="$DIRS pc-bios/optionrom pc-bios/s390-ccw"
 DIRS="$DIRS roms/seabios"
-LINKS="Makefile"
 LINKS="$LINKS tests/tcg/lm32/Makefile"
 LINKS="$LINKS tests/tcg/Makefile.target"
 LINKS="$LINKS pc-bios/optionrom/Makefile"
@@ -7888,6 +7864,7 @@ for f in $LINKS ; do
         symlink "$source_path/$f" "$f"
     fi
 done
+symlink "$source_path/Makefile.build" "Makefile"
 for f in $UNLINK ; do
     if [ -L "$f" ]; then
         rm -f "$f"
