diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 6b8710a711..f2fc34583d 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1 +1,7 @@
 .git
+**/*.a
+**/*.o
+**/*.la
+**/*.lo
+**/*.so
+**/.libs
diff --git a/tests/topotests/Dockerfile b/tests/topotests/Dockerfile
index 72a876ed83..3613e23a6e 100644
--- a/tests/topotests/Dockerfile
+++ b/tests/topotests/Dockerfile
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ RUN echo "" >> /etc/security/limits.conf; \
     echo "root hard core unlimited" >> /etc/security/limits.conf
 
 # Copy run scripts to facilitate users wanting to run the tests
-COPY docker/inner /opt/topotests
+COPY tests/topotests/docker/inner /opt/topotests
 
 WORKDIR /root/topotests
 ENV PATH "$PATH:/opt/topotests"
diff --git a/tests/topotests/README.md b/tests/topotests/README.md
index 3f1323c218..a495675ee9 100644
--- a/tests/topotests/README.md
+++ b/tests/topotests/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # FRRouting Topology Tests with Mininet
 
+## Running tests with docker
+
+There is a docker image which allows to run topotests. Instructions can be
+found [here](docker/README.md).
+
 ## Guidelines
 
 Instructions for  use, write or debug topologies can be found in the
@@ -11,11 +16,6 @@ that does what you need. If nothing is similar, then you may create a
 new topology, preferably, using the newest
 [template](example-test/test_template.py).
 
-## Running tests with docker
-
-There is a docker image which allows to run topotests. Instructions can be
-found [here](docker/README.md).
-
 ## Installation of Mininet for running tests
 Only tested with Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04 (which uses Mininet 2.2.x)
 
diff --git a/tests/topotests/docker/README.md b/tests/topotests/docker/README.md
index 918594e6a3..cdc41fad52 100644
--- a/tests/topotests/docker/README.md
+++ b/tests/topotests/docker/README.md
@@ -3,34 +3,43 @@
 ## Quickstart
 
 If you have Docker installed, you can run the topotests in Docker.
-The easiest way to do this, is to use the `frr-topotests.sh` script
-from this repository:
+The easiest way to do this, is to use the make targets from this
+repository.
+
+Your current user needs to have access to the Docker daemon. Alternatively
+you can run these commands as root.
 
 ```console
-wget -O /usr/local/bin/frr-topotests \
-    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/frrouting/topotests/master/docker/frr-topotests.sh
-chmod +x /usr/local/bin/frr-topotests
+make topotests-build
+make topotests
 ```
 
-Once this script is in place, simply run it while you are inside your FRR repository:
+The first command will build a docker image with all the dependencies needed
+to run the topotests.
 
-```console
-frr-topotests
-```
+The second command will spawn an instance of this image, compile FRR inside
+of it, and run the topotests.
 
 ## Advanced Usage
 
-There are several environtment variables which can be used to modify the behavior of
-the image. Those can be listed using `frr-topotests -h`.
+Internally, the topotests make target uses a shell script to spawn the docker
+container.
+
+There are several environment variables which can be used to modify the behavior
+of the script, these can be listed by calling it with `-h`:
+
+```console
+./tests/topotests/docker/frr-topotests.sh -h
+```
 
 For example, a volume is used to cache build artifacts between multiple runs
 of the image. If you need to force a complete recompile, you can set `TOPOTEST_CLEAN`:
 
 ```console
-TOPOTEST_CLEAN=1 frr-topotests
+TOPOTEST_CLEAN=1 ./tests/topotests/docker/frr-topotests.sh
 ```
 
-By default, `frr-topotests` will build frr and run pytest. If you append
+By default, `frr-topotests.sh` will build frr and run pytest. If you append
 arguments and the first one starts with `/` or `./`, they will replace the call to
 pytest. If the appended arguments do not match this patttern, they will be provided to
 pytest as arguments.
@@ -38,11 +47,11 @@ pytest as arguments.
 So, to run a specific test with more verbose logging:
 
 ```console
-frr-topotests -vv -s all-protocol-startup/test_all_protocol_startup.py
+./tests/topotests/docker/frr-topotests.sh -vv -s all-protocol-startup/test_all_protocol_startup.py
 ```
 
 And to compile FRR but drop into a shell instead of running pytest:
 
 ```console
-frr-topotests /bin/bash
+./tests/topotests/docker/frr-topotests.sh /bin/bash
 ```
diff --git a/tests/topotests/docker/build.sh b/tests/topotests/docker/build.sh
index 344fb2ffcb..3bb6dbaad8 100755
--- a/tests/topotests/docker/build.sh
+++ b/tests/topotests/docker/build.sh
@@ -22,9 +22,10 @@
 # CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
 # SOFTWARE.
 
-cd "$(dirname "$0")"/..
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"/../../..
 
 exec docker build --pull \
 		  --compress \
 		  -t frrouting/frr:topotests-latest \
+		  -f tests/topotests/Dockerfile \
 		  .
diff --git a/tests/topotests/docker/inner/entrypoint.sh b/tests/topotests/docker/inner/entrypoint.sh
index f491d15f79..3050ec86d0 100755
--- a/tests/topotests/docker/inner/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/tests/topotests/docker/inner/entrypoint.sh
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ chmod 1777 /tmp
 if [ $# -eq 0 ] || ([[ "$1" != /* ]] && [[ "$1" != ./* ]]); then
 	export TOPOTESTS_CHECK_MEMLEAK=/tmp/memleak_
 	export TOPOTESTS_CHECK_STDERR=Yes
-	set -- pytest --junitxml /tmp/topotests.xml "$@"
+	set -- pytest \
+		--junitxml /tmp/topotests.xml \
+		-o cache_dir=/tmp \
+		"$@"
 fi
 
 exec "$@"