diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
index bc049620c774..75036c1b5c4f 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
@@ -44,6 +44,12 @@ SKIP_LLVM	?=
 SKIP_LIBBFD	?=
 SKIP_CRYPTO	?=
 
+# When BPF_STRICT_BUILD is 1, any BPF object, skeleton, test object, or
+# benchmark compilation failure is fatal. Set to 0 to tolerate failures
+# and continue building the remaining tests.
+BPF_STRICT_BUILD ?= 1
+PERMISSIVE := $(filter 0,$(BPF_STRICT_BUILD))
+
 ifeq ($(srctree),)
 srctree := $(patsubst %/,%,$(dir $(CURDIR)))
 srctree := $(patsubst %/,%,$(dir $(srctree)))