diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f4b29b15290b1817dcde7f403ebc9f8b2bb79cfb..3fd33a19907f967be632a2306a22844c3d12ac66 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -97,10 +97,16 @@ AS_IF([test "x$PLATFORM" = "xkernel"],
         # Build libcap as kernel module, in addition to static lib.a
         AC_ARG_ENABLE([kernel_module],
             [AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-kernel-module],
-                [Disable kernel module build (default=no)])])
+                [Disable kernel module build (default=no)])],
+            [],
+            [enable_kernel_module="yes"])
         AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_KERNEL_MODULE, 
             [test "x$enable_kernel_module" = "xyes"])
 
+        AM_COND_IF([ENABLE_KERNEL_MODULE],
+            [AC_MSG_NOTICE([Building kernel module.])],
+            [AC_MSG_NOTICE([Not building kernel module.])])
+
     ],
 
     [
@@ -111,10 +117,16 @@ AS_IF([test "x$PLATFORM" = "xkernel"],
     ])
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([test_build],
-    [AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-test-build],
-        [Disable building test applications (default=no)])])
+    [AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-test-build],
+        [Enable building test applications (default=no)])],
+    [],
+    [enable_test_build="no"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_TEST_BUILD, 
     [test "x$enable_test_build" = "xyes"])
+AM_COND_IF([ENABLE_TEST_BUILD],
+    [AC_MSG_NOTICE([Building tests.])],
+    [AC_MSG_NOTICE([Not building tests.])])
+
 
 # --------------------------------------------------
 # Checks for programs.
@@ -269,8 +281,9 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES(
   src/platform/Makefile
   src/platform/kernel/Makefile
   src/platform/kernel/src/Makefile
-  src/platform/kernel/module/Kbuild:src/platform/kernel/module/Kbuild.in
-  src/platform/Kbuild:src/platform/kernel/Kbuild.in
+  src/platform/kernel/module/Makefile
+  src/platform/kernel/module/Kbuild
+  src/platform/kernel/Kbuild
   src/platform/kernel/include/Makefile
 
   src/platform/user/Makefile
diff --git a/src/include/libcap.h b/src/include/libcap.h
index 8cfbc38c61ef6ac76e5b293ac9a2b3c30a05fee7..77df1c3fb5d4fc78051adab4b3661bcc6151df08 100644
--- a/src/include/libcap.h
+++ b/src/include/libcap.h
@@ -31,9 +31,9 @@ extern int cap_debug_level;
 #define CAP_DEBUG_WARN 2
 #define CAP_DEBUG_MSG  3
 
-#define CAP_DEBUG(lvl, msg, ...) do {					\
+#define CAP_DEBUG(lvl,msg,...) do {					\
 		if (lvl <= cap_debug_level)				\
-			__cap_debug(msg,## __VA_ARGS__);		\
+			__cap_debug(msg,##__VA_ARGS__);			\
 	} while(0)
 
 #define CAP_BUG() do { __cap_bug(); } while(0)
diff --git a/src/platform/kernel/Kbuild.in b/src/platform/kernel/Kbuild.in
index 94e69ee2583e577cbe04d6536752a7509751ed68..02bca3ea3f07b566c02aa27e2eae370cfa1ee857 100644
--- a/src/platform/kernel/Kbuild.in
+++ b/src/platform/kernel/Kbuild.in
@@ -1,8 +1,18 @@
+# Build libcap as static library. Unfortunately, the name of the
+# library is hard-coded in the kernel build system to be lib.a. (We
+# have an extra build step that cp's lib.a -> libcap.a.)
 
-# Kernel source files
-# (none for static lib)
+# Note: Kernel expects the files to be relative paths (it always prepends
+# the current directory).
 
-# Build libcap as static library
-lib-y += libcap.a
-libcap-objs += \
+# This single line of magic makes it so we can do an out of src tree
+# build. It has to do with how and where this Kbuild file is included
+# in the kernel build system.
+src = @abs_top_srcdir@/src/platform/kernel
+
+# Sources that make up library
+lib-y += \
 	$(COMMON_SRCS:.c=.o)
+
+# Pass along include directories from the Automake file
+ccflags-y += $(AM_CPPFLAGS)
diff --git a/src/platform/kernel/Makefile.am b/src/platform/kernel/Makefile.am
index 9a670dd27352ed316b978bdae50b4969148657b0..85d57423340ab2c18267685f8d4fbf4e5e9c3f56 100644
--- a/src/platform/kernel/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/platform/kernel/Makefile.am
@@ -16,36 +16,79 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS = \
 	$(GLIB_INCLUDES)
 
 COMMON_SRCS = \
-	../common/cap.c \
-	../common/cptr_cache.c
+	../../common/cap.c \
+	../../common/cptr_cache.c
 
 export AM_CPPFLAGS COMMON_SRCS
 
 LIBCAP_KBUILD=$(PWD)
-LIBCAP_KERNEL_MODULE_KBUILD=$(PWD)/platform/kernel/module
+LIBCAP_KERNEL_MODULE_KBUILD=$(PWD)/module
 
 # Automake if's aren't as powerful as GNU Make's (partly since Automake
 # doesn't know the config selections when it does its job)
-all_cmd = $(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KBUILD) \
-	CPPFLAGS="$(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS)" modules
-install_cmd = $(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KBUILD) modules_install
-clean_cmd = $(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KBUILD) clean
-
 if ENABLE_KERNEL_MODULE
 
-all_cmd += ; $(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KERNEL_MODULE_KBUILD) \
-	CPPFLAGS="$(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS)" modules
-install_cmd += ; $(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KERNEL_MODULE_KBUILD) \
-	modules_install
-clean_cmd += ; $(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KERNEL_MODULE_KBUILD) clean
+MAYBE_ALL_MODULE = all-module
+MAYBE_CLEAN_MODULE = clean-module
+MAYBE_MODULES_INSTALL = do-modules-install
 
 endif
 
-all:
-	$(all_cmd)
+# Sequence the build, so we build the lib first
+all: all-lib-cp $(MAYBE_ALL_MODULE)
+
+all-module: all-lib-cp
+	$(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KERNEL_MODULE_KBUILD) modules
+
+all-lib-cp: all-lib
+	cp lib.a libcap.a
+
+all-lib:
+	$(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KBUILD)
+
+# Don't do regular install; user probably doesn't want kernel stuff in
+# user-level directories.
+install-exec-hook:
+	@echo "----------------------------------------"; \
+	echo "             NOTE"; \
+	echo ""; \
+	echo "Skipping copy of libcap.a and libcap.ko."; \
+	echo "You can find them in (libcap build dir)/src/platform/kernel."; \
+	echo "To install the kernel module, do 'make modules_install'"; \
+	echo "in the root of the libcap build tree."; \
+	echo ""; \
+	echo "----------------------------------------"
+
+uninstall-hook:
+	@echo "----------------------------------------"; \
+	echo "             NOTE"; \
+	echo ""; \
+	echo "Skipping uninstall of libcap.a and libcap.ko."; \
+	echo "If you installed the libcap.ko kernel module via"; \
+	echo "modules_install (in the root of the libcap build tree)"; \
+	echo "then there really isn't an easy way (that I know of) to"; \
+	echo "remove the kernel module. It was installed somewhere in"; \
+	echo '  /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build'; \
+	echo "(or something similar)."; \
+	echo "You will have to manually remove it."; \
+	echo ""; \
+	echo "----------------------------------------"
+
+
+do-modules-install:
+	$(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KERNEL_MODULE_KBUILD) \
+		modules_install
+
+modules_install: $(MAYBE_MODULES_INSTALL)
+
+clean: clean-lib $(MAYBE_CLEAN_MODULE)
+
+clean-module:
+	$(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KERNEL_MODULE_KBUILD) clean
 
-install:
-	$(install_cmd)
+clean-lib:
+	$(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(LIBCAP_KBUILD) clean
+	rm -f libcap.a
 
-clean:
-	$(clean_cmd)
+.PHONY: all-module all-lib all-lib-cp do-modules-install modules_install \
+	clean-module clean-lib
diff --git a/src/platform/kernel/include/libcap_platform.h b/src/platform/kernel/include/libcap_platform.h
index 012774403bfb4a881c831c7c6263dae54653b28b..b2492fe9eb62d9d78d82c3cc76dc9716c4ea0048 100644
--- a/src/platform/kernel/include/libcap_platform.h
+++ b/src/platform/kernel/include/libcap_platform.h
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #define __cap_msg(format,...) \
     printk(KERN_NOTICE "cap: %s:%d: "format,__FUNCTION__,__LINE__,##__VA_ARGS__)
 #define __cap_debug(format,...) \
-    printk(KERN_DEBUG,"cap: %s:%d: "format,__FUNCTION__,__LINE__,##__VA_ARGS__)
+    printk(KERN_DEBUG "cap: %s:%d: "format,__FUNCTION__,__LINE__,##__VA_ARGS__)
 
 #define __cap_bug() BUG()
 
diff --git a/src/platform/kernel/module/Kbuild.in b/src/platform/kernel/module/Kbuild.in
index c0b8e64ad1cbc63af14dac19b470c312e3b62b11..c3bc784eb7aca4b8362e1940ac8abbc05a6777c3 100644
--- a/src/platform/kernel/module/Kbuild.in
+++ b/src/platform/kernel/module/Kbuild.in
@@ -1,8 +1,21 @@
+# Build kernel module that includes libcap.a.
 
-top_srcdir = @top_srcdir@
-LIBCAP_PATH = $(top_srcdir)/src/libcap.a
+# Note: Kernel expects the files to be relative paths (it always prepends
+# the current directory).
 
-obj-m = cap_module.o
+# This single line of magic makes it so we can do an out of src tree
+# build. It has to do with how and where this Kbuild file is included
+# in the kernel build system.
+src = @abs_top_srcdir@/src/platform/kernel/module
 
-cap_module-objs += main.o
-cap_module-objs += $(LIBCAP_PATH)
\ No newline at end of file
+# The module (will be named libcap.ko)
+obj-m = libcap.o
+
+# Sources that make up module
+libcap-objs += main.o
+
+# Link with libcap.a
+libcap-objs += ../libcap.a
+
+# Pass along include directories from the Automake file
+ccflags-y += $(AM_CPPFLAGS)
diff --git a/src/platform/kernel/module/Makefile.am b/src/platform/kernel/module/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2a2f85691620f47f59168c058f66056ecbb0c184
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/platform/kernel/module/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+# Empty for now. We trigger the build in the prior directory,
+# because the library needs to be built before the kernel module (so
+# we can link it).
diff --git a/src/platform/kernel/module/main.c b/src/platform/kernel/module/main.c
index d7f94344f00cd42967a67b71dab75fc99390f12f..1269a3b76797d10b7cac07a6a47a2086442faaca 100644
--- a/src/platform/kernel/module/main.c
+++ b/src/platform/kernel/module/main.c
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ static int __init cap_init_module(void)
 
 static void __exit cap_fini_module(void)
 {
-	cap_exit();
+	cap_fini();
 	return;
 }