diff --git a/samples/Kconfig b/samples/Kconfig
index 831a7ecd3352..c68d391c0602 100644
--- a/samples/Kconfig
+++ b/samples/Kconfig
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ config SAMPLE_HIDRAW
 
 config SAMPLE_PIDFD
 	bool "pidfd sample"
-	depends on HEADERS_INSTALL
+	depends on CC_CAN_LINK && HEADERS_INSTALL
 
 config SAMPLE_SECCOMP
 	bool "Build seccomp sample code"
diff --git a/samples/pidfd/Makefile b/samples/pidfd/Makefile
index ee2979849d92..6e5b67e648c2 100644
--- a/samples/pidfd/Makefile
+++ b/samples/pidfd/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
 
-hostprogs := pidfd-metadata
-always-y := $(hostprogs)
-HOSTCFLAGS_pidfd-metadata.o += -I$(objtree)/usr/include
-all: pidfd-metadata
+usertprogs := pidfd-metadata
+always-y := $(userprogs)
+
+userccflags += -I usr/include