diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dpdk/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dpdk/default.nix
index fd45e83c26b..808feaff02c 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dpdk/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dpdk/default.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,13 @@
-{ stdenv, kernel, fetchurl, pkgconfig, numactl }:
+{ stdenv, lib, kernel, fetchurl, pkgconfig, numactl }:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "dpdk-${version}-${kernel.version}";
+let
+
+  kver = kernel.modDirVersion or null;
+
+  mod = kernel != null;
+
+in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "dpdk-${version}" + lib.optionalString mod "-${kernel.version}";
   version = "17.11.2";
 
   src = fetchurl {
@@ -9,35 +15,45 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "19m5l3jkrns8r1zbjb6ry18w50ff36kbl5b5g6pfcp9p57sfisd2";
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ] ++ kernel.moduleBuildDependencies;
-  buildInputs = [ numactl ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
+  buildInputs = [ numactl ] ++ lib.optional mod kernel.moduleBuildDependencies;
 
-  RTE_KERNELDIR = "${kernel.dev}/lib/modules/${kernel.modDirVersion}/build";
+  RTE_KERNELDIR = if mod then "${kernel.dev}/lib/modules/${kver}/build" else "/var/empty";
   RTE_TARGET = "x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc";
 
   # we need sse3 instructions to build
   NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-msse3" ];
-
-  enableParallelBuilding = true;
-  outputs = [ "out" "kmod" ];
-
   hardeningDisable = [ "pic" ];
 
+  postPatch = lib.optionalString (!mod) ''
+    # Do not build kernel modules.
+    cat >>config/defconfig_$RTE_TARGET <<EOF
+CONFIG_RTE_EAL_IGB_UIO=n
+CONFIG_RTE_KNI_KMOD=n
+EOF
+  '';
+
   configurePhase = ''
     make T=${RTE_TARGET} config
   '';
 
-  installPhase = ''
-    make install-runtime DESTDIR=$out prefix= includedir=/include datadir=/
-    make install-sdk DESTDIR=$out prefix= includedir=/include datadir=/
-    make install-kmod DESTDIR=$kmod
-  '';
+  installTargets = [ "install-runtime" "install-sdk" "install-kmod" ]; # skip install-doc
 
-  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+  installFlags = [
+    "prefix=$(out)" "datadir=$(out)" "includedir=$(out)/include"
+  ] ++ lib.optionals mod [
+    "kerneldir=$(kmod)/lib/modules/${kver}"
+  ];
+
+  outputs = [ "out" ] ++ lib.optional mod "kmod";
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
+  meta = with lib; {
     description = "Set of libraries and drivers for fast packet processing";
     homepage = http://dpdk.org/;
     license = with licenses; [ lgpl21 gpl2 bsd2 ];
     platforms =  [ "x86_64-linux" ];
-    maintainers = [ maintainers.domenkozar ];
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ domenkozar orivej ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index d2b566ab5f6..1fe6e71d83d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -13814,6 +13814,10 @@ with pkgs;
 
   buildLinux = attrs: callPackage ../os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix attrs;
 
+  dpdk = callPackage ../os-specific/linux/dpdk {
+    kernel = null; # dpdk modules are in linuxPackages.dpdk.kmod
+  };
+
   keyutils = callPackage ../os-specific/linux/keyutils { };
 
   libselinux = callPackage ../os-specific/linux/libselinux { };