diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 67f19f2080..88375dcf90 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -145,6 +145,15 @@ pixman/Makefile: $(SRC_PATH)/pixman/configure
 $(SRC_PATH)/pixman/configure:
 	(cd $(SRC_PATH)/pixman; autoreconf -v --install)
 
+DTC_MAKE_ARGS=-I$(SRC_PATH)/dtc VPATH=$(SRC_PATH)/dtc -C dtc V="$(V)" LIBFDT_srcdir=$(SRC_PATH)/dtc/libfdt
+DTC_CFLAGS=$(CFLAGS) $(extra_cflags) -I$(BUILD_DIR)/dtc -I$(SRC_PATH)/dtc -I$(SRC_PATH)/dtc/libfdt
+
+subdir-dtc:dtc/libfdt dtc/tests
+	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) $(DTC_MAKE_ARGS) CPPFLAGS="$(DTC_CFLAGS)" LDFLAGS="$(LDFLAGS)" ARFLAGS="$(ARFLAGS)" CC="$(CC)" AR="$(AR)" LD="$(LD)" $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) libfdt,)
+
+dtc/%:
+	mkdir -p $@
+
 $(SUBDIR_RULES): libqemuutil.a libqemustub.a $(common-obj-y)
 
 ROMSUBDIR_RULES=$(patsubst %,romsubdir-%, $(ROMS))
@@ -262,6 +271,7 @@ distclean: clean
 	rm -rf $$d || exit 1 ; \
         done
 	if test -f pixman/config.log; then make -C pixman distclean; fi
+	if test -f dtc/version_gen.h; then make $(DTC_MAKE_ARGS) clean; fi
 
 KEYMAPS=da     en-gb  et  fr     fr-ch  is  lt  modifiers  no  pt-br  sv \
 ar      de     en-us  fi  fr-be  hr     it  lv  nl         pl  ru     th \
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d5f151610a..7546799c90 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2496,17 +2496,34 @@ if test "$fdt" != "no" ; then
 int main(void) { return 0; }
 EOF
   if compile_prog "" "$fdt_libs" ; then
+    # system DTC is good - use it
     fdt=yes
-    libs_softmmu="$libs_softmmu $fdt_libs"
-  else
-    if test "$fdt" = "yes" ; then
-      feature_not_found "fdt"
+  elif test -d ${source_path}/dtc/libfdt ; then
+    # have submodule DTC - use it
+    fdt=yes
+    dtc_internal="yes"
+    mkdir -p dtc
+    if [ "$source_path" != `pwd` ] ; then
+       symlink "$source_path/dtc/Makefile" "dtc/Makefile"
+       symlink "$source_path/dtc/scripts" "dtc/scripts"
     fi
+    fdt_cflags="-I\$(SRC_PATH)/dtc/libfdt"
+    fdt_libs="-L\$(BUILD_DIR)/dtc/libfdt $fdt_libs"
+  elif test "$fdt" = "yes" ; then
+    # have neither and want - prompt for system/submodule install
+    error_exit "ERROR: DTC not present. Your options:" \
+        "  (1) Preferred: Install the DTC devel package" \
+        "  (2) Fetch the DTC submodule, using:" \
+        "      git submodule update --init dtc"
+  else
+    # don't have and don't want
     fdt_libs=
     fdt=no
   fi
 fi
 
+libs_softmmu="$libs_softmmu $fdt_libs"
+
 ##########################################
 # GLX probe, used by milkymist-tmu2
 if test "$glx" != "no" ; then
@@ -3452,7 +3469,7 @@ if test "$cpu" = "ppc64" -a "$targetos" != "Darwin" ; then
 fi
 
 # add pixman flags after all config tests are done
-QEMU_CFLAGS="$QEMU_CFLAGS $pixman_cflags"
+QEMU_CFLAGS="$QEMU_CFLAGS $pixman_cflags $fdt_cflags"
 libs_softmmu="$libs_softmmu $pixman_libs"
 
 echo "Install prefix    $prefix"
@@ -4515,6 +4532,10 @@ if [ "$pixman" = "internal" ]; then
   echo "config-host.h: subdir-pixman" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
 
+if [ "$dtc_internal" = "yes" ]; then
+  echo "config-host.h: subdir-dtc" >> $config_host_mak
+fi
+
 # build tree in object directory in case the source is not in the current directory
 DIRS="tests tests/tcg tests/tcg/cris tests/tcg/lm32 tests/libqos"
 DIRS="$DIRS pc-bios/optionrom pc-bios/spapr-rtas"