diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f8279924..ebb32204 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1433,6 +1433,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([
 	doc/doxygen/Makefile
 	doc/doxygen/openvpn.doxyfile
 	include/Makefile
+	sample/sample-plugins/Makefile
 	src/Makefile
 	src/compat/Makefile
 	src/openvpn/Makefile
diff --git a/sample/sample-plugins/Makefile.am b/sample/sample-plugins/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d02abe48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sample/sample-plugins/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#
+#  OpenVPN -- An application to securely tunnel IP networks
+#             over a single UDP port, with support for SSL/TLS-based
+#             session authentication and key exchange,
+#             packet encryption, packet authentication, and
+#             packet compression.
+#
+#  Copyright (C) 2002-2020 OpenVPN Inc <sales@openvpn.net>
+#
+
+MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = \
+	$(srcdir)/Makefile.in
+
+# We don't want automake to pull in libtool for building these
+# sample-plugins.  Even though this breaks the conceptual ideas
+# around autoconf/automake/libtools ... these sample plug-ins
+# are just sample code, not to be installed or distributed outside
+# of the source tarball.  Not even built by default, by design.
+#
+# We only add this as a simple and convenient way to build all
+# these plug-ins with the same build parameters as the rest
+# of the OpenVPN code.
+#
+# All the plugins which will be built are processed in this
+# separate Makefile, which disconnects everything just enough
+# to achieve our goal.
+include Makefile.plugins
+
diff --git a/sample/sample-plugins/Makefile.plugins b/sample/sample-plugins/Makefile.plugins
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..76768dbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sample/sample-plugins/Makefile.plugins
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#  SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#
+#  Copyright (C) 2020 OpenVPN Inc <sales@openvpn.net>
+#
+
+#
+# Plug-ins to build - listed entries should not carry any extensions
+#
+PLUGINS = \
+	defer/simple \
+	keying-material-exporter-demo/keyingmaterialexporter \
+	log/log log/log_v3 \
+	simple/base64 \
+	simple/simple
+
+# All the plugins to build - rewritten with .so extension
+all : $(foreach var, $(PLUGINS), $(var).so)
+
+# Compile step
+.c.o :
+	test -d `dirname $@` || $(MKDIR_P) `dirname $@`; \
+	$(CC) -c -o $@ $(CFLAGS) -I$(top_srcdir) -fPIC $<
+
+# Link step
+%.so : %.o
+	$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -fPIC -o $@ $<
+
+# Clean up all build object and shared object files
+clean :
+	rm -f $(foreach var, $(PLUGINS), $(var).o) \
+	$(foreach var, $(PLUGINS), $(var).so)
diff --git a/sample/sample-plugins/defer/build b/sample/sample-plugins/defer/build
deleted file mode 100755
index ba41a39f..00000000
--- a/sample/sample-plugins/defer/build
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-#
-# Build an OpenVPN plugin module on *nix.  The argument should
-# be the base name of the C source file (without the .c).
-#
-
-# This directory is where we will look for openvpn-plugin.h
-CPPFLAGS="${CPPFLAGS:--I../../../include}"
-
-CC="${CC:-gcc}"
-CFLAGS="${CFLAGS:--O2 -Wall -g}"
-
-$CC $CPPFLAGS $CFLAGS -fPIC -c $1.c && \
-$CC $CFLAGS -fPIC -shared ${LDFLAGS} -Wl,-soname,$1.so -o $1.so $1.o -lc
diff --git a/sample/sample-plugins/keying-material-exporter-demo/build b/sample/sample-plugins/keying-material-exporter-demo/build
deleted file mode 100755
index bbb05f7c..00000000
--- a/sample/sample-plugins/keying-material-exporter-demo/build
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-#
-# Build an OpenVPN plugin module on *nix.  The argument should
-# be the base name of the C source file (without the .c).
-#
-
-# This directory is where we will look for openvpn-plugin.h
-CPPFLAGS="${CPPFLAGS:--I../../..}"
-
-CC="${CC:-gcc}"
-CFLAGS="${CFLAGS:--O2 -Wall -g}"
-
-$CC $CPPFLAGS $CFLAGS -fPIC -c $1.c && \
-$CC $CFLAGS -fPIC -shared $LDFLAGS -Wl,-soname,$1.so -o $1.so $1.o -lc
diff --git a/sample/sample-plugins/log/build b/sample/sample-plugins/log/build
deleted file mode 100755
index c07ec408..00000000
--- a/sample/sample-plugins/log/build
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-#
-# Build an OpenVPN plugin module on *nix.  The argument should
-# be the base name of the C source file (without the .c).
-#
-
-# This directory is where we will look for openvpn-plugin.h
-CPPFLAGS="${CPPFLAGS:--I../../../include}"
-
-CC="${CC:-gcc}"
-CFLAGS="${CFLAGS:--O2 -Wall -g}"
-
-$CC $CPPFLAGS $CFLAGS -fPIC -c $1.c && \
-$CC $CFLAGS -fPIC -shared $LDFLAGS -Wl,-soname,$1.so -o $1.so $1.o -lc
diff --git a/sample/sample-plugins/simple/build b/sample/sample-plugins/simple/build
deleted file mode 100755
index bbb05f7c..00000000
--- a/sample/sample-plugins/simple/build
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-#
-# Build an OpenVPN plugin module on *nix.  The argument should
-# be the base name of the C source file (without the .c).
-#
-
-# This directory is where we will look for openvpn-plugin.h
-CPPFLAGS="${CPPFLAGS:--I../../..}"
-
-CC="${CC:-gcc}"
-CFLAGS="${CFLAGS:--O2 -Wall -g}"
-
-$CC $CPPFLAGS $CFLAGS -fPIC -c $1.c && \
-$CC $CFLAGS -fPIC -shared $LDFLAGS -Wl,-soname,$1.so -o $1.so $1.o -lc