diff --git a/README b/README
index a48fdde..d894e7e 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -19,14 +19,13 @@ successful.
 
 Build
 =====
-
-To build static library libbpf.a:
+To build both static libbpf.a and shared libbpf.so:
   cd src
   make
 
-To build both static libbpf.a and shared libbpf.so libraries in directory
+To build only static libbpf.a library in directory
 build/ and install them together with libbpf headers in a staging directory
 root/:
   cd src
   mkdir build root
-  BUILD_SHARED=y OBJDIR=build DESTDIR=root make install
+  BUILD_STATIC_ONLY=y OBJDIR=build DESTDIR=root make install
diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index 51b52e8..4846ab8 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ ifneq ($(FEATURE_REALLOCARRAY),)
 	ALL_CFLAGS += -DCOMPAT_NEED_REALLOCARRAY
 endif
 
-ifdef BUILD_SHARED
+ifndef BUILD_STATIC_ONLY
 	ALL_CFLAGS += -fPIC -fvisibility=hidden
 endif
 
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ OBJS := $(addprefix $(OBJDIR)/,bpf.o btf.o libbpf.o libbpf_errno.o netlink.o \
 	nlattr.o str_error.o libbpf_probes.o bpf_prog_linfo.o xsk.o)
 
 LIBS := $(OBJDIR)/libbpf.a
-ifdef BUILD_SHARED
+ifndef BUILD_STATIC_ONLY
 	LIBS += $(OBJDIR)/libbpf.so
 endif