diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0246c1bf1..53b90f332 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ DIRS-y += test
 DIRS-$(CONFIG_IPSEC_MB) += ipsecbuild
 DIRS-$(CONFIG_ISAL) += isalbuild
 DIRS-$(CONFIG_VFIO_USER) += vfiouserbuild
-DIRS-y += python
+DIRS-$(CONFIG_SMA) += proto
 DIRS-$(CONFIG_XNVME) += xnvmebuild
 
 .PHONY: all clean $(DIRS-y) include/spdk/config.h mk/config.mk \
diff --git a/python/Makefile b/proto/Makefile
similarity index 53%
rename from python/Makefile
rename to proto/Makefile
index 8058059af..eceb0aee2 100644
--- a/python/Makefile
+++ b/proto/Makefile
@@ -6,17 +6,10 @@
 SPDK_ROOT_DIR := $(abspath $(CURDIR)/..)
 include $(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/mk/spdk.common.mk
 
-define generate_protobuf
-$(1)/%_pb2.py $(1)/%_pb2_grpc.py: $(1)/%.proto
-	$(Q)python3 -m grpc_tools.protoc -I $(1) --python_out=$(1) \
-		--grpc_python_out=$(1) --proto_path=$(1) $$^
-endef
-
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_SMA),y)
-protodirs = spdk/sma/proto
-protodefs = $(foreach protodir,$(protodirs),$(wildcard $(protodir)/*.proto))
-protopy = $(foreach proto,$(basename $(protodefs)),$(addprefix $(proto),_pb2.py _pb2_grpc.py))
-endif
+# Location where the python generated code is placed
+pydir=$(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/python/spdk/sma/proto
+protodefs = $(wildcard *.proto)
+protopy = $(foreach proto,$(basename $(protodefs)),$(addprefix $(pydir)/$(proto),_pb2.py _pb2_grpc.py))
 
 all: $(protopy)
 
@@ -28,6 +21,8 @@ clean:
 install:
 uninstall:
 
-$(foreach protodir,$(protodirs),$(eval $(call generate_protobuf,$(protodir))))
+$(pydir)/%_pb2.py $(pydir)/%_pb2_grpc.py: %.proto
+	$(Q)python3 -m grpc_tools.protoc --proto_path=. --python_out=$(pydir) \
+		--grpc_python_out=$(pydir)  $^
 
 .PHONY: all clean install uninstall
diff --git a/python/spdk/sma/proto/nvme.proto b/proto/nvme.proto
similarity index 100%
rename from python/spdk/sma/proto/nvme.proto
rename to proto/nvme.proto
diff --git a/python/spdk/sma/proto/nvmf.proto b/proto/nvmf.proto
similarity index 100%
rename from python/spdk/sma/proto/nvmf.proto
rename to proto/nvmf.proto
diff --git a/python/spdk/sma/proto/nvmf_tcp.proto b/proto/nvmf_tcp.proto
similarity index 100%
rename from python/spdk/sma/proto/nvmf_tcp.proto
rename to proto/nvmf_tcp.proto
diff --git a/python/spdk/sma/proto/sma.proto b/proto/sma.proto
similarity index 100%
rename from python/spdk/sma/proto/sma.proto
rename to proto/sma.proto
diff --git a/python/spdk/sma/proto/virtio_blk.proto b/proto/virtio_blk.proto
similarity index 100%
rename from python/spdk/sma/proto/virtio_blk.proto
rename to proto/virtio_blk.proto