diff --git a/.cirrus.yml b/.cirrus.yml
index a4b53a54b..bddd5a3f1 100644
--- a/.cirrus.yml
+++ b/.cirrus.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ task:
   setup_script: |
     scripts/ci/apt-install make gcc pkg-config git perl-modules iproute2 kmod wget cpu-checker
     sudo kvm-ok
-    ln -sf /usr/include/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
   build_script: |
     make -C scripts/ci vagrant-fedora-no-vdso
 
@@ -33,7 +32,6 @@ task:
     memory: 8G
 
   setup_script: |
-    ln -sf /usr/include/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
     dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb # Same as CentOS 8 powertools
     dnf -y install epel-release epel-next-release
     dnf -y install --allowerasing asciidoc gcc git gnutls-devel libaio-devel libasan libcap-devel libnet-devel libnl3-devel libbsd-devel libselinux-devel make protobuf-c-devel protobuf-devel python-devel python-PyYAML python-protobuf python-junit_xml python3-importlib-metadata xmlto libdrm-devel libuuid-devel
@@ -67,7 +65,6 @@ task:
   setup_script: |
     scripts/ci/apt-install make gcc pkg-config git perl-modules iproute2 kmod wget cpu-checker
     sudo kvm-ok
-    ln -sf /usr/include/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
   build_script: |
     make -C scripts/ci vagrant-fedora-rawhide
 
@@ -88,7 +85,6 @@ task:
   setup_script: |
     scripts/ci/apt-install make gcc pkg-config git perl-modules iproute2 kmod wget cpu-checker
     sudo kvm-ok
-    ln -sf /usr/include/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
   build_script: |
     make -C scripts/ci vagrant-fedora-non-root
 
@@ -101,7 +97,6 @@ task:
   script: uname -a
   build_script: |
     scripts/ci/apt-install make
-    ln -sf /usr/include/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
     make -C scripts/ci local
 
 task:
@@ -113,7 +108,6 @@ task:
   script: uname -a
   build_script: |
     scripts/ci/apt-install make
-    ln -sf /usr/include/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
     make -C scripts/ci local CLANG=1
 
 task:
@@ -125,6 +119,5 @@ task:
   script: uname -a
   build_script: |
     scripts/ci/prepare-for-fedora-rawhide.sh
-    ln -sf /usr/include/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
     make -C scripts/ci/ local CC=gcc SKIP_CI_PREP=1 SKIP_CI_TEST=1 CD_TO_TOP=1
     make -C test/zdtm -j 4
diff --git a/.lgtm.yml b/.lgtm.yml
index 0dd49cda4..4beadcc63 100644
--- a/.lgtm.yml
+++ b/.lgtm.yml
@@ -23,8 +23,3 @@ extraction:
       - "python3-yaml"
       - "libnl-route-3-dev"
       - "gnutls-dev"
-    configure:
-      command:
-      - "ls -laR images/google"
-      - "ln -s /usr/include/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto"
-      - "ls -laR images/google"
diff --git a/images/Makefile b/images/Makefile
index d966fbfca..e94346eee 100644
--- a/images/Makefile
+++ b/images/Makefile
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ proto-obj-y	+= ext-file.o
 proto-obj-y	+= cgroup.o
 proto-obj-y	+= userns.o
 proto-obj-y	+= pidns.o
-proto-obj-y	+= google/protobuf/descriptor.o # To make protoc happy and compile opts.proto
 proto-obj-y	+= opts.o
 proto-obj-y	+= seccomp.o
 proto-obj-y	+= binfmt-misc.o
@@ -91,6 +90,22 @@ endef
 
 makefile-deps := Makefile $(obj)/Makefile
 
+#
+# Generate descriptor.pb-c.c and descriptor.pb-c.h to compile opts.proto.
+PROTOBUF_DIR := images/google
+DESCRIPTOR_DIR := $(PROTOBUF_DIR)/protobuf
+GOOGLE_INCLUDE=$(shell pkg-config protobuf --variable=includedir)/google/protobuf
+$(DESCRIPTOR_DIR)/descriptor.pb-c.c: $(GOOGLE_INCLUDE)/descriptor.proto
+	$$(Q) echo "Generating descriptor.pb-c.c"
+	$$(Q) protoc --proto_path=/usr/include --proto_path=$(obj)/ --c_out=$(obj)/ $<
+
+cleanup-y += $(DESCRIPTOR_DIR)/descriptor.pb-c.d
+
+submrproper:
+	$$(Q) rm -rf $(PROTOBUF_DIR)
+.PHONY: submrproper
+mrproper: submrproper
+
 #
 # Generates rules needed to compile protobuf files.
 define gen-proto-rules
diff --git a/images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto b/images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
deleted file mode 120000
index 07a4c9add..000000000
--- a/images/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/usr/include/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
\ No newline at end of file