diff --git a/scripts/check_format.sh b/scripts/check_format.sh
index 6151fbd43..6563b19a2 100755
--- a/scripts/check_format.sh
+++ b/scripts/check_format.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ if hash astyle; then
 	rm -f astyle.log
 	touch astyle.log
 	astyle --options=.astylerc "*.c" >> astyle.log
-	astyle --options=.astylerc "*.cpp" >> astyle.log
+	astyle --options=.astylerc --exclude=test/cpp_headers "*.cpp" >> astyle.log
 	astyle --options=.astylerc "*.h" >> astyle.log
 	if grep -q "^Formatted" astyle.log; then
 		echo " errors detected"
diff --git a/test/cpp_headers/.gitignore b/test/cpp_headers/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ce1da4c53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cpp_headers/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*.cpp
diff --git a/test/cpp_headers/Makefile b/test/cpp_headers/Makefile
index d27d26927..76e77469e 100644
--- a/test/cpp_headers/Makefile
+++ b/test/cpp_headers/Makefile
@@ -34,11 +34,16 @@
 SPDK_ROOT_DIR := $(abspath $(CURDIR)/../..)
 include $(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/mk/spdk.common.mk
 
-CXX_SRCS := cpp_headers.cpp
+HEADERS := $(wildcard $(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/include/spdk/*.h)
+CXX_SRCS := $(patsubst %.h,%.cpp,$(notdir $(HEADERS)))
 
-all : cpp_headers.o
+%.cpp: $(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/include/spdk/%.h
+	$(Q)echo "  TEST_HEADER include/spdk/$(notdir $<)"; \
+	echo '#include "spdk/$(notdir $<)"' > $@
+
+all : $(CXX_SRCS) $(OBJS)
 
 clean :
-	$(CLEAN_C)
+	$(CLEAN_C) $(CXX_SRCS)
 
 include $(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/mk/spdk.deps.mk
diff --git a/test/cpp_headers/cpp_headers.cpp b/test/cpp_headers/cpp_headers.cpp
deleted file mode 100644
index 4893dd1b1..000000000
--- a/test/cpp_headers/cpp_headers.cpp
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,36 +0,0 @@
-// Make sure all of the SPDK public headers compile as C++
-
-extern "C" {
-#include "spdk/assert.h"
-#include "spdk/barrier.h"
-#include "spdk/bdev.h"
-#include "spdk/bit_array.h"
-#include "spdk/conf.h"
-#include "spdk/copy_engine.h"
-#include "spdk/endian.h"
-#include "spdk/event.h"
-#include "spdk/fd.h"
-#include "spdk/gpt_spec.h"
-#include "spdk/ioat.h"
-#include "spdk/ioat_spec.h"
-#include "spdk/iscsi_spec.h"
-#include "spdk/json.h"
-#include "spdk/jsonrpc.h"
-#include "spdk/likely.h"
-#include "spdk/log.h"
-#include "spdk/mmio.h"
-#include "spdk/net.h"
-#include "spdk/nvme.h"
-#include "spdk/nvme_intel.h"
-#include "spdk/nvme_spec.h"
-#include "spdk/nvmf_spec.h"
-#include "spdk/pci.h"
-#include "spdk/pci_ids.h"
-#include "spdk/queue.h"
-#include "spdk/rpc.h"
-#include "spdk/scsi.h"
-#include "spdk/scsi_spec.h"
-#include "spdk/string.h"
-#include "spdk/trace.h"
-#include "spdk/vtophys.h"
-}