diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 1deda365c..fd38a48d9 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 # We include .git in the build context because excluding it would break the
 # "make release" target, which uses git to retrieve the build version and tag.
 #.git
+
+/tests
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 163232a37..72d4ceb21 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
 *.test
 *.cover
 
+# Test binaries, built from *_test.go
+pkg/csplugin/tests/cs_plugin_test*
+
 # Output of the go coverage tool, specifically when used with LiteIDE
 *.out
 
@@ -31,13 +34,10 @@ plugins/notifications/splunk/notification-splunk
 plugins/notifications/email/notification-email
 plugins/notifications/dummy/notification-dummy
 
-#test binaries
-pkg/csplugin/tests/cs_plugin_test*
-
-#test cache (downloaded files)
+# Test cache (downloaded files)
 .cache
 
-#release stuff
+# Release stuff
 crowdsec-v*
 pkg/cwhub/hubdir/.index.json
 msi
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8eb91d699..1d1eff1cd 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ COPY . .
 # wizard.sh requires GNU coreutils
 RUN apk add --no-cache git gcc libc-dev make bash gettext binutils-gold coreutils && \
     echo "githubciXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" > /etc/machine-id && \
-    SYSTEM="docker" make clean release && \
+    make clean release && \
     cd crowdsec-v* && \
     ./wizard.sh --docker-mode && \
     cd - >/dev/null && \
diff --git a/Dockerfile.debian b/Dockerfile.debian
index 595da2b57..1dbbc70c5 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.debian
+++ b/Dockerfile.debian
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ ENV DEBCONF_NOWARNINGS="yes"
 RUN apt-get update && \
     apt-get install -y -q git gcc libc-dev make bash gettext binutils-gold coreutils tzdata && \
     echo "githubciXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" > /etc/machine-id && \
-    SYSTEM="docker" make clean release && \
+    make clean release && \
     cd crowdsec-v* && \
     ./wizard.sh --docker-mode && \
     cd - >/dev/null && \
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 80399b0c1..7e4ba1ea1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -215,4 +215,11 @@ windows_installer: build
 chocolatey: windows_installer
 	@.\make_chocolatey.ps1 -version $(BUILD_VERSION)
 
+# Include tests/bats.mk only if it exists
+# to allow building without a test/ directory
+# (i.e. inside docker)
+ifeq (,$(wildcard tests/bats.mk))
+bats-clean:
+else
 include tests/bats.mk
+endif