diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index aac3b2f19a29e318d5c1ba39e502ffda8dee80c9..f5177be77b9d2e69eb9e4bc30d6b6f3f0234b758 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ endif
 # Targets 'all', 'release', 'experimental-release' and 'static' define different
 # default lists of executables to build but they all can be overridden from the command-line.
 .PHONY: all
-all:
+all: kernels
 	@$(MAKE) build OCTEZ_EXECUTABLES?="$(ALL_EXECUTABLES)"
 
 .PHONY: release
@@ -473,4 +473,24 @@ clean: coverage-clean clean-old-names
 
 .PHONY: build-kernels
 build-kernels:
-	make -f kernels.mk build-kernels
+	${MAKE} -f kernels.mk build-kernels
+
+
+define KERNELS_WARNING_MESSAGE
+
+Failed to build smart rollup kernels. This is allowed as it is not strictly
+required to run the octez suite. However, you will not be able to use some
+smart rollup related features and the associated integration tests.
+
+If you wish to change that, you can use the script `scripts/install_build_deps.kernels.sh`
+to install missing dependencies and re-run `make kernels`.
+
+endef
+export KERNELS_WARNING_MESSAGE
+
+# This is allowed to fail because it is used in `all`.
+.PHONY: kernels
+kernels:
+	@${MAKE} -f kernels.mk build-deps && ${MAKE} -f kernels.mk build-kernels || \
+	echo "$$KERNELS_WARNING_MESSAGE"
+
diff --git a/scripts/install_build_deps.kernels.sh b/scripts/install_build_deps.kernels.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8a0818d5bbd660aea3de80f47ef4728e5b0a8a43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/install_build_deps.kernels.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -e
+
+# This script assumes that [./install_build_deps.rust.sh] was called and
+# rustup is available.
+
+echo -e "<><> \033[1mInstall kernels dependencies\033[0m  ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>"
+
+success=0
+
+if [ ! -x "$(command -v clang)" ]; then
+    echo "Clang is not installed. Please install at least Clang >= 11."
+    echo "See instructions at: https://clang.llvm.org/"
+    success=1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -x "$(command -v wasm-strip)" ]; then
+    echo "WABT is not installed."
+    echo "See instructions at: https://github.com/WebAssembly/wabt"
+    success=1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -x "$(command -v eth)" ]; then
+    if [ ! -x "$(command -v npm)" ]; then
+        echo "npm is required to install eth."
+        echo "See instructions at: https://docs.npmjs.com/downloading-and-installing-node-js-and-npm"
+        success=1
+    else
+        npm install eth-cli@2.0.2 --no-save
+    fi
+fi
+
+echo "Done installing kernels dependencies."
+exit $success
diff --git a/scripts/install_build_deps.sh b/scripts/install_build_deps.sh
index 9de6275ffc25e975eb166910309e85570ab75026..4ea2d898229ed93388c5f0f52de3bb1e0fa2e3a0 100755
--- a/scripts/install_build_deps.sh
+++ b/scripts/install_build_deps.sh
@@ -107,3 +107,13 @@ fi
 
 "$script_dir"/install_sapling_parameters.sh
 
+
+# install kernels dependencies if asked
+if [ -n "$dev" ]; then
+    "$script_dir"/install_build_deps.kernels.sh ||
+        echo "\
+
+It is recommended to act on the missing dependencies and call ${script_dir}install_build_deps.kernels.sh again.
+Note that this is not strictly required to use the octez suite."
+fi
+
diff --git a/tezt/lib_ethereum/eth_cli.ml b/tezt/lib_ethereum/eth_cli.ml
index b34ea637b535bc86d9130356497189735dec10de..3f53feaa3f4510fd1b38b12841dd7345a813550a 100644
--- a/tezt/lib_ethereum/eth_cli.ml
+++ b/tezt/lib_ethereum/eth_cli.ml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 let path = "eth"
 
 let spawn_command command decode =
-  let process = Process.spawn path command in
+  let process = Process.spawn "npm" (["exec"; "--"; path] @ command) in
   let* output = Process.check_and_read_stdout process in
   return (JSON.parse ~origin:"eth_spawn_command" output |> decode)