diff --git a/tools/lkl/Makefile b/tools/lkl/Makefile
index 9ca22b7605e3ad..2929944d77b3bf 100644
--- a/tools/lkl/Makefile
+++ b/tools/lkl/Makefile
@@ -52,15 +52,9 @@ export CFLAGS += -I$(OUTPUT)/include -Iinclude -Wall -g -O2 -Wextra \
 
 include Targets
 
-# Expand targets to output location and suffix but preserve special
-# targets (e.g. .WAIT)
-# $1 - targets
-# $2 - suffix
-expand-targets = $(foreach t,$(1),$(if $(filter .%,$(t)),$(t),$(OUTPUT)$(t)$(2)))
-
-TARGETS := $(call expand-targets,$(progs-y),$(EXESUF))
-TARGETS += $(call expand-targets,$(tests-y),$(EXESUF))
-TARGETS += $(call expand-targets,$(libs-y),$(SOSUF))
+TARGETS := $(progs-y:%=$(OUTPUT)%$(EXESUF))
+TARGETS := $(tests-y:%=$(OUTPUT)%$(EXESUF))
+TARGETS += $(libs-y:%=$(OUTPUT)%$(SOSUF))
 all: $(TARGETS)
 
 # this workaround is for FreeBSD
@@ -87,13 +81,15 @@ $(OUTPUT)lib/lkl.o: bin/stat $(DOT_CONFIG)
 	$(MAKE) -C ../.. ARCH=lkl $(KOPT)
 	$(MAKE) -C ../.. ARCH=lkl $(KOPT) install INSTALL_PATH=$(OUTPUT)
 
-# rules to link libs
+# rules to link hijack libs
 $(OUTPUT)%$(SOSUF): LDFLAGS += -shared
-$(OUTPUT)%$(SOSUF): $(OUTPUT)%-in.o $(OUTPUT)liblkl.a
+$(OUTPUT)%$(SOSUF): $(priv-libs-y:%=$(OUTPUT)%-in.o) $(OUTPUT)%-in.o $(OUTPUT)liblkl.a
 	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_$*-y) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS) $(LDLIBS_$*-y)
 
 # liblkl is special
-$(OUTPUT)liblkl$(SOSUF): $(OUTPUT)%-in.o $(OUTPUT)lib/lkl.o
+$(OUTPUT)lib/liblkl$(SOSUF): $(OUTPUT)lib/liblkl-in.o $(OUTPUT)lib/lkl.o
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_$*-y) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS) $(LDLIBS_$*-y)
+
 $(OUTPUT)liblkl.a: $(OUTPUT)lib/liblkl-in.o $(OUTPUT)lib/lkl.o
 	$(QUIET_AR)$(AR) -rc $@ $^
 
@@ -101,11 +97,13 @@ $(OUTPUT)liblkl.a: $(OUTPUT)lib/liblkl-in.o $(OUTPUT)lib/lkl.o
 $(OUTPUT)%$(EXESUF): $(OUTPUT)%-in.o $(OUTPUT)liblkl.a
 	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_$*-y) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS) $(LDLIBS_$*-y)
 
+# tests use a common private lib
+$(tests-y:%=$(OUTPUT)%$(EXESUF)): $(tests-priv-y:%=$(OUTPUT)%-in.o)
+
 # rule to build objects
 $(OUTPUT)%-in.o: $(OUTPUT)lib/lkl.o FORCE
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) -f $(srctree)/tools/build/Makefile.build dir=$(patsubst %/,%,$(dir $*)) obj=$(notdir $*)
 
-
 $(OUTPUT)cpfromfs$(EXESUF): cptofs$(EXESUF)
 	$(Q)if ! [ -e $@ ]; then ln -s $< $@; fi
 
@@ -181,7 +179,7 @@ libraries_install: $(libs-y:%=$(OUTPUT)%$(SOSUF)) $(OUTPUT)liblkl.a
 	    install -d $(DESTDIR)$(LIBDIR) ; \
 	    install -m 644 $^ $(DESTDIR)$(LIBDIR)
 
-programs_install: $(call expand-targets,$(progs-y),$(EXESUF))
+programs_install: $(progs-y:%=$(OUTPUT)%$(EXESUF))
 	$(call QUIET_INSTALL, programs) \
 	    install -d $(DESTDIR)$(BINDIR) ; \
 	    install -m 755 $^ $(DESTDIR)$(BINDIR)
@@ -197,4 +195,3 @@ FORCE: ;
 .PHONY: headers_install libraries_install programs_install install
 .NOTPARALLEL : lib/lkl.o
 .SECONDARY:
-.WAIT:
diff --git a/tools/lkl/Targets b/tools/lkl/Targets
index 3d30bd8be3c840..741462c8dd21f1 100644
--- a/tools/lkl/Targets
+++ b/tools/lkl/Targets
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 libs-y += lib/liblkl
 
 ifneq ($(LKL_HOST_CONFIG_BSD),y)
+priv-libs-$(LKL_HOST_CONFIG_POSIX) += lib/hijack/libhijack-priv
 libs-$(LKL_HOST_CONFIG_POSIX) += lib/hijack/liblkl-hijack
 libs-$(LKL_HOST_CONFIG_POSIX) += lib/hijack/liblkl-zpoline
 endif
@@ -26,11 +27,10 @@ LDLIBS_cptofs-y := -larchive
 LDLIBS_cptofs-$(LKL_HOST_CONFIG_NEEDS_LARGP) += -largp
 
 # tools/build/Makefile.build does not support parallel builds when
-# objects are shared between build objects so keep the test that uses
-# the most common object first and insert a build barrier to avoid
-# rebuilding common objects
+# objects are shared between build objects so use tests-common-in.o
+# as a tests build prerequisite which gets linked into each binary.
+tests-priv-y := tests/tests-common
 tests-y := tests/disk
-tests-y += .WAIT
 tests-y += tests/boot
 tests-y += tests/disk-vfio-pci
 tests-y += tests/net-test
diff --git a/tools/lkl/lib/hijack/Build b/tools/lkl/lib/hijack/Build
index b42239e47d8e78..64f61db29882c0 100644
--- a/tools/lkl/lib/hijack/Build
+++ b/tools/lkl/lib/hijack/Build
@@ -1,14 +1,11 @@
+libhijack-priv-y += hijack.o
+libhijack-priv-y += init.o
+libhijack-priv-y += xlate.o
+libhijack-priv-y += dbg_handler.o
+
 liblkl-hijack-y += preload.o
-liblkl-hijack-y += hijack.o
-liblkl-hijack-y += init.o
-liblkl-hijack-y += xlate.o
-liblkl-hijack-y += dbg_handler.o
 
 liblkl-zpoline-y += zpoline.o
-liblkl-zpoline-y += hijack.o
-liblkl-zpoline-y += init.o
-liblkl-zpoline-y += xlate.o
-liblkl-zpoline-y += dbg_handler.o
 
 # -std=gnu23/c23 fails due to HOST_CALL (*host_##name)()
 CFLAGS_hijack.o += -std=gnu11
diff --git a/tools/lkl/tests/Build b/tools/lkl/tests/Build
index b156f780ae402e..8e8245c3af4633 100644
--- a/tools/lkl/tests/Build
+++ b/tools/lkl/tests/Build
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-boot-y += boot.o test.o
-disk-y += disk.o cla.o test.o
-disk-vfio-pci-y += disk-vfio-pci.o cla.o test.o
-net-test-y += net-test.o cla.o test.o
-config-y += config.o test.o
-test-dlmopen-y += test-dlmopen.o test.o
+tests-common-y += cla.o test.o
+boot-y += boot.o
+disk-y += disk.o
+disk-vfio-pci-y += disk-vfio-pci.o
+net-test-y += net-test.o
+config-y += config.o
+test-dlmopen-y += test-dlmopen.o