diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c3f82939d..f54248c6a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ tags
 TAGS
 Makefile.local
 compel/compel
-compel/compel-host
+compel/compel-host-bin
 images/*.c
 images/*.h
 images/google/protobuf/*.c
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e06731eec..630b650af 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -222,9 +222,9 @@ $(SOCCR_A): |soccr/built-in.o
 #
 # But note that we're already included
 # the nmk so we can reuse it there.
-criu/%: images/built-in.o compel/plugins/std.built-in.o compel/libcompel.a compel/compel-host $(VERSION_HEADER) .FORCE
+criu/%: images/built-in.o compel/plugins/std.built-in.o compel/libcompel.a compel/compel-host-bin $(VERSION_HEADER) .FORCE
 	$(Q) $(MAKE) $(build)=criu $@
-criu: images/built-in.o compel/plugins/std.built-in.o compel/libcompel.a compel/compel-host $(SOCCR_A) $(VERSION_HEADER)
+criu: images/built-in.o compel/plugins/std.built-in.o compel/libcompel.a compel/compel-host-bin $(SOCCR_A) $(VERSION_HEADER)
 	$(Q) $(MAKE) $(build)=criu all
 .PHONY: criu
 
diff --git a/compel/Makefile b/compel/Makefile
index b2000386e..ef932fe46 100644
--- a/compel/Makefile
+++ b/compel/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ include $(SRC_DIR)/Makefile.versions
 
 COMPEL_SO_VERSION	:= $(COMPEL_SO_VERSION_MAJOR)$(if $(COMPEL_SO_VERSION_MINOR),.$(COMPEL_SO_VERSION_MINOR))$(if $(COMPEL_SO_VERSION_SUBLEVEL),.$(COMPEL_SO_VERSION_SUBLEVEL))
 COMPEL_SO_VERSION_CODE	:= $(shell expr $(COMPEL_SO_VERSION_MAJOR) \* 65536 \+ $(COMPEL_SO_VERSION_MINOR) \* 256 \+ $(COMPEL_SO_VERSION_SUBLEVEL))
+ccflags-y		+= -DINCLUDEDIR=\"$(INCLUDEDIR)\"
 ccflags-y		+= -iquote compel/arch/$(ARCH)/src/lib/include
 ccflags-y		+= -iquote compel/include
 ccflags-y		+= -iquote compel/plugins/include
@@ -45,8 +46,8 @@ endif
 
 host-ccflags-y		+= $(ccflags-y)
 
-hostprogs-y		+= compel-host
-compel-host-objs	:= $(patsubst %.o,%-host.o,$(obj-y) $(host-lib-y))
+hostprogs-y		+= compel-host-bin
+compel-host-bin-objs	:= $(patsubst %.o,%-host.o,$(obj-y) $(host-lib-y))
 
 ifeq ($(ARCH),x86)
 HOSTCFLAGS_handle-elf-32-host.o += -UCONFIG_X86_64 -DCONFIG_X86_32
@@ -54,7 +55,7 @@ HOSTCFLAGS_handle-elf-32-host.d += -UCONFIG_X86_64 -DCONFIG_X86_32
 endif
 
 cleanup-y		+= compel/compel
-cleanup-y		+= compel/compel-host
+cleanup-y		+= compel/compel-host-bin
 cleanup-y		+= compel/libcompel.so
 
 install: compel/compel compel/$(LIBCOMPEL_SO) compel/$(LIBCOMPEL_A)
diff --git a/compel/compel-host b/compel/compel-host
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..bf78862bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compel/compel-host
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# A wrapper to use compel-host right from the source dir
+# (i.e. when it is not yet installed).
+
+COMPEL_UNINSTALLED_ROOTDIR=$(dirname "$0")
+export COMPEL_UNINSTALLED_ROOTDIR
+exec "${COMPEL_UNINSTALLED_ROOTDIR}/compel-host-bin" "$@"
diff --git a/compel/src/main.c b/compel/src/main.c
index c943febd1..f91fe2729 100644
--- a/compel/src/main.c
+++ b/compel/src/main.c
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ static const flags_t flags = {
 };
 
 piegen_opt_t opts = {};
+const char *uninst_root;
 
 static int piegen(void)
 {
@@ -114,7 +115,7 @@ static int usage(int rc) {
 
 	fprintf(out,
 "Usage:\n"
-"  compel [--compat] cflags | ldflags\n"
+"  compel [--compat] includes | cflags | ldflags\n"
 "  compel -f FILE -o FILE -p NAME [-l N] hgen\n"
 "    -f, --file FILE		input (parasite object) file name\n"
 "    -o, --output FILE		output (header) file name\n"
@@ -128,9 +129,35 @@ static int usage(int rc) {
 	return rc;
 }
 
+static void print_includes(void)
+{
+	int i;
+	/* list of standard include dirs (built into C preprocessor) */
+	const char *standard_includes[] = {
+		"/usr/include",
+		"/usr/local/include",
+	};
+
+	/* I am not installed, called via a wrapper */
+	if (uninst_root) {
+		printf("-I %s/include/uapi\n", uninst_root);
+		return;
+	}
+
+	/* I am installed
+	 * Make sure to not print banalities */
+	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(standard_includes); i++)
+		if (strcmp(INCLUDEDIR, standard_includes[i]) == 0)
+			return;
+
+	/* Finally, print our non-standard include path */
+	printf("%s\n", "-I " INCLUDEDIR);
+}
+
 static void print_cflags(bool compat)
 {
 	printf("%s\n", compat ? flags.cflags_compat : flags.cflags);
+	print_includes();
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
@@ -152,6 +179,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		{ },
 	};
 
+	uninst_root = getenv("COMPEL_UNINSTALLED_ROOTDIR");
+
 	while (1) {
 		idx = -1;
 		opt = getopt_long(argc, argv, short_opts, long_opts, &idx);
@@ -195,6 +224,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	}
 	action = argv[optind++];
 
+	if (!strcmp(action, "includes")) {
+		print_includes();
+		return 0;
+	}
 	if (!strcmp(action, "cflags")) {
 		print_cflags(compat);
 		return 0;
diff --git a/compel/test/infect/Makefile b/compel/test/infect/Makefile
index ede9a474d..8d35c2967 100644
--- a/compel/test/infect/Makefile
+++ b/compel/test/infect/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ CFLAGS	?= -O2 -g -Wall -Werror
 ARCH	?= x86
 
 COMPEL		:= ../../../compel/compel-host
-COMPEL_IDIR	:= ../../../compel/include/uapi
 COMPEL_PACK_LDS	:= ../../../compel/arch/$(ARCH)/scripts/compel-pack.lds.S
 COMPEL_PLUGINS	:= ../../../compel/plugins
 COMPEL_LIBRARY	:= ../../../compel/libcompel.a
@@ -21,7 +20,7 @@ victim: victim.c
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $^
 
 spy: spy.c | parasite.h
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -I$(COMPEL_IDIR) -o $@ $^ $(COMPEL_LIBRARY)
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(shell $(COMPEL) includes) -o $@ $^ $(COMPEL_LIBRARY)
 
 parasite.h: parasite.po
 	$(COMPEL) hgen -f $^ -l 4		\
@@ -32,4 +31,4 @@ parasite.po: parasite.o $(COMPEL_PLUGINS)/std.built-in.o
 	ld -r -T $(COMPEL_PACK_LDS) -o $@ $^
 
 parasite.o: parasite.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $(shell $(COMPEL) cflags) -I$(COMPEL_IDIR) -o $@ $^
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $(shell $(COMPEL) cflags) -o $@ $^
diff --git a/compel/test/rsys/Makefile b/compel/test/rsys/Makefile
index a4fda54fa..3c5ef5bba 100644
--- a/compel/test/rsys/Makefile
+++ b/compel/test/rsys/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 CC	:= gcc
 CFLAGS	?= -O2 -g -Wall -Werror
 
-COMPEL_IDIR	:= ../../../compel/include/uapi
+COMPEL		:= ../../../compel/compel-host
 COMPEL_LIBRARY	:= ../../../compel/libcompel.a
 
 all: victim spy
@@ -14,4 +14,4 @@ victim: victim.c
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $^
 
 spy: spy.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -I$(COMPEL_IDIR) -o $@ $^ $(COMPEL_LIBRARY)
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(shell $(COMPEL) includes) -o $@ $^ $(COMPEL_LIBRARY)
diff --git a/criu/pie/Makefile b/criu/pie/Makefile
index 9ae488c89..1649a2987 100644
--- a/criu/pie/Makefile
+++ b/criu/pie/Makefile
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ $(obj)/%.built-in.bin.o: $(obj)/%.built-in.o $(obj)/pie.lib.a $(compel_lds)
 	$(call msg-gen, $@)
 	$(Q) $(LD) -r -T $(compel_lds) -o $@ $< $(obj)/pie.lib.a
 
-$(obj)/%-blob.h: $(obj)/%.built-in.bin.o $(SRC_DIR)/compel/compel-host
+$(obj)/%-blob.h: $(obj)/%.built-in.bin.o $(SRC_DIR)/compel/compel-host-bin
 	$(call msg-gen, $@)
 	$(Q) $(SRC_DIR)/compel/compel-host hgen -f $<			\
 		-l 4							\