diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 83f0a9c4..70280717 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -117,6 +117,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - only write IPMI if write is true
 - Don't show an error if image files for containers can't be found. #933
 - Make configured paths available in overlays as `.Path` #960
+- Introduced IPXESOURCE environment variable which allows to specify the path to iPXE 
+  binaries not provided by warewulf
+- use distrubtion ipxe binaries in the rpm
+- Allow absolute iPXE paths in warewulf.conf
 - Support importing containers with symlinked `/bin/sh` #797
 - Don't panic on malformed passwd #527
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index aaedba30..4ef5a5bf 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ etc/bash_completion.d/wwctl: wwctl
 
 .PHONY: lint
 lint: $(config)
-	$(GOLANGCI_LINT) run --build-tags "$(WW_GO_BUILD_TAGS)" --skip-dirs internal/pkg/staticfiles --timeout=5m ./...
+	$(GOLANGCI_LINT) run --build-tags "$(WW_GO_BUILD_TAGS)" --timeout=5m ./...
 
 .PHONY: vet
 vet: $(config)
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ install: build docs
 	install -d -m 0755 $(DESTDIR)$(WWDOCDIR)
 	install -d -m 0755 $(DESTDIR)$(FIREWALLDDIR)
 	install -d -m 0755 $(DESTDIR)$(SYSTEMDDIR)
-	install -d -m 0755 $(DESTDIR)$(WWDATADIR)/ipxe
+	install -d -m 0755 $(DESTDIR)$(IPXESOURCE)
+	install -d -m 0755 $(DESTDIR)$(DATADIR)/warewulf
 	test -f $(DESTDIR)$(WWCONFIGDIR)/warewulf.conf || install -m 0644 etc/warewulf.conf $(DESTDIR)$(WWCONFIGDIR)
 	test -f $(DESTDIR)$(WWCONFIGDIR)/nodes.conf || install -m 0644 etc/nodes.conf $(DESTDIR)$(WWCONFIGDIR)
 	test -f $(DESTDIR)$(WWCONFIGDIR)/wwapic.conf || install -m 0644 etc/wwapic.conf $(DESTDIR)$(WWCONFIGDIR)
@@ -132,10 +133,6 @@ install: build docs
 	install -m 0644 etc/bash_completion.d/wwctl $(DESTDIR)$(BASHCOMPDIR)/wwctl
 	for f in docs/man/man1/*.1.gz; do install -m 0644 $$f $(DESTDIR)$(MANDIR)/man1/; done
 	for f in docs/man/man5/*.5.gz; do install -m 0644 $$f $(DESTDIR)$(MANDIR)/man5/; done
-	install -m 0644 staticfiles/README-ipxe.md $(DESTDIR)$(WWDATADIR)/ipxe
-	install -m 0644 staticfiles/arm64.efi $(DESTDIR)$(WWDATADIR)/ipxe
-	install -m 0644 staticfiles/x86_64.efi $(DESTDIR)$(WWDATADIR)/ipxe
-	install -m 0644 staticfiles/x86_64.kpxe $(DESTDIR)$(WWDATADIR)/ipxe
 
 .PHONY: init
 init:
@@ -147,7 +144,7 @@ init:
 dist:
 	rm -rf .dist/ $(WAREWULF)-$(VERSION).tar.gz
 	mkdir -p .dist/$(WAREWULF)-$(VERSION)
-	rsync -a --exclude=".*" --exclude "*~" * .dist/$(WAREWULF)-$(VERSION)/
+	rsync -a --exclude=".github"  --exclude=".vscode" --exclude "*~" * .dist/$(WAREWULF)-$(VERSION)/
 	cd .dist; tar -czf ../$(WAREWULF)-$(VERSION).tar.gz $(WAREWULF)-$(VERSION)
 	rm -rf .dist
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2100a7b2..0ee8c705 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,36 +13,69 @@
 ## About Warewulf
 
 ### History
-For over two decades, Warewulf has powered HPC systems around the world. From simple “under the desk” clusters to large
-institutional systems at HPC centers as well as enterprises who rely on performance critical computing.
 
-Through the evolution of Warewulf, we have seen various iterations provisioning models starting from CDROM / ISO images
-to Etherboot (predecessor to PXE), then PXE, and more recently iPXE, but even during these different bootloaders,
-Warewulf in it’s heart, has always been first and foremost a stateless provisioning system (e.g. the operating system
-node image is not written to any persistent storage and rather it boots from the network directly into a runtime
-system).
+For over two decades, Warewulf has powered HPC systems around the
+world. From simple “under the desk” clusters to large institutional
+systems at HPC centers as well as enterprises who rely on performance
+critical computing.
 
-Warewulf v3 has been in production for over 6 years now as it has stabilized into a very solid and full featured
-solution. But over the last few years, there have been many innovations in Enterprise technologies which can (and
-should) be leveraged as part of Warewulf. Additionally, some of the lessons learned from Warewulf v3 architecture
-should be rolled into an updated architecture for provisioning management.
+Through the evolution of Warewulf, we have seen various iterations
+provisioning models starting from CDROM / ISO images to Etherboot
+(predecessor to PXE), then PXE, and more recently iPXE, but even
+during these different bootloaders, Warewulf in it’s heart, has always
+been first and foremost a stateless provisioning system (e.g. the
+operating system node image is not written to any persistent storage
+and rather it boots from the network directly into a runtime system).
+
+Warewulf v3 has been in production for over 6 years now as it has
+stabilized into a very solid and full featured solution. But over the
+last few years, there have been many innovations in Enterprise
+technologies which can (and should) be leveraged as part of
+Warewulf. Additionally, some of the lessons learned from Warewulf v3
+architecture should be rolled into an updated architecture for
+provisioning management.
 
 ### Warewulf v4
-Leveraging this legacy of provisioning and cluster management brings us to where we are today. The next generation
-of Warewulf. Warewulf v4 is a complete rewrite in GoLang, taking in the legacy of what we've come to expect with
-Warewulf, bringing it into the present, and looking out into the future.
 
-Warewulf v4 combines ultra scalability, flexibility, and simplicity with being light weight, non-intrusive, and a
-great tool for scientists and seasoned system administrators alike. Warewulf empowers you to scalably and easily manage
-thousands of compute resources.
+Leveraging this legacy of provisioning and cluster management brings
+us to where we are today. The next generation of Warewulf. Warewulf v4
+is a complete rewrite in GoLang, taking in the legacy of what we've
+come to expect with Warewulf, bringing it into the present, and
+looking out into the future.
+
+Warewulf v4 combines ultra scalability, flexibility, and simplicity
+with being light weight, non-intrusive, and a great tool for
+scientists and seasoned system administrators alike. Warewulf empowers
+you to scalably and easily manage thousands of compute resources.
 
 ### Architecture
-One of the design tenants of Warewulf is how to scalably administrate many thousands of compute nodes. Generally
-speaking, operating system state introduce a surface for potential discrepancies and version creep between nodes and
-thus Warewulf has always gone with the "single system image" approach to clustered operating system management.
-This means that you can have a single management node "image". For the last 20 years, we've been calling this a
-Virtual Node File System (VNFS), but in hindsight, this is a container.
 
-At its core, Warewulf v4 focuses on what has made Warewulf so widely loved: simplicity, ultra scalable, lightweight,
-and an easy to manage solution built for both scientists and seasons system administrators to be able to design a
-highly functional yet easy to maintain cluster no matter how big or small or customized it needs to be.
+One of the design tenants of Warewulf is how to scalably administrate
+many thousands of compute nodes. Generally speaking, operating system
+state introduce a surface for potential discrepancies and version
+creep between nodes and thus Warewulf has always gone with the "single
+system image" approach to clustered operating system management.  This
+means that you can have a single management node "image". For the last
+20 years, we've been calling this a Virtual Node File System (VNFS),
+but in hindsight, this is a container.
+
+At its core, Warewulf v4 focuses on what has made Warewulf so widely
+loved: simplicity, ultra scalable, lightweight, and an easy to manage
+solution built for both scientists and seasons system administrators
+to be able to design a highly functional yet easy to maintain cluster
+no matter how big or small or customized it needs to be.
+
+## iPXE
+
+Warewulf uses iPXE for network boot. Typically iPXE is provided by the
+operating system; but the iPXE binaries can be rebuilt with the
+`ipxe-update.sh` script. This script accepts command-line arguments
+that are passed to the underlying `make` process. e.g.,
+
+```bash
+echo "#!ipxe
+echo Tagging with vlan 1000
+vcreate --tag 1000 net0 autoboot || shell" >vlan-1000.ipxe
+
+sh ipxe-update.sh EMBED=$(readlink -f vlan-1000.ipxe)
+```
diff --git a/Variables.mk b/Variables.mk
index c405e450..b3d34108 100644
--- a/Variables.mk
+++ b/Variables.mk
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ ifdef PREFIX
 endif
 
 # System directory paths
-VARLIST += PREFIX BINDIR SYSCONFDIR SRVDIR DATADIR MANDIR DOCDIR LOCALSTATEDIR
+VARLIST += PREFIX BINDIR SYSCONFDIR SRVDIR DATADIR MANDIR DOCDIR LOCALSTATEDIR RELEASE
 PREFIX ?= /usr/local
 BINDIR ?= $(PREFIX)/bin
 SYSCONFDIR ?= $(PREFIX)/etc
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ endif
 TFTPDIR ?= /var/lib/tftpboot
 
 # Warewulf directory paths
-VARLIST += WWCLIENTDIR WWCONFIGDIR WWPROVISIONDIR WWOVERLAYDIR WWCHROOTDIR WWTFTPDIR WWDOCDIR WWDATADIR
+VARLIST += WWCLIENTDIR WWCONFIGDIR WWPROVISIONDIR WWOVERLAYDIR WWCHROOTDIR WWTFTPDIR WWDOCDIR WWDATADIR IPXESOURCE
 WWCONFIGDIR := $(SYSCONFDIR)/$(WAREWULF)
 WWPROVISIONDIR := $(LOCALSTATEDIR)/$(WAREWULF)/provision
 WWOVERLAYDIR := $(LOCALSTATEDIR)/$(WAREWULF)/overlays
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ WWCLIENTDIR ?= /warewulf
 
 CONFIG := $(shell pwd)
 
+IPXESOURCE ?= $(PREFIX)/share/ipxe
+
 # helper functions
 godeps=$(shell go list -mod vendor -deps -f '{{if not .Standard}}{{ $$dep := . }}{{range .GoFiles}}{{$$dep.Dir}}/{{.}} {{end}}{{end}}' $(1) | sed "s%${PWD}/%%g")
 
diff --git a/etc/warewulf.conf b/etc/warewulf.conf
index a5b9a346..0ab38da9 100644
--- a/etc/warewulf.conf
+++ b/etc/warewulf.conf
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ dhcp:
 tftp:
   enabled: true
   systemd name: tftp
+  ipxe:
+    00:09: ipxe-snponly-x86_64.efi
+    00:00: undionly.kpxe
+    00:0B: arm64-efi/snponly.efi
+    00:07: ipxe-snponly-x86_64.efi
 nfs:
   enabled: true
   export paths:
diff --git a/internal/pkg/config/buildconfig.go.in b/internal/pkg/config/buildconfig.go.in
index 5316e518..125f192f 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/config/buildconfig.go.in
+++ b/internal/pkg/config/buildconfig.go.in
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ type BuildConfig struct {
 	Sysconfdir     string `default:"@SYSCONFDIR@"`
 	Datadir        string `default:"@DATADIR@"`
 	Localstatedir  string `default:"@LOCALSTATEDIR@"`
+	Ipxesource     string `default:"@IPXESOURCE@"`
 	Srvdir         string `default:"@SRVDIR@"`
 	Tftpdir        string `default:"@TFTPDIR@"`
 	Firewallddir   string `default:"@FIREWALLDDIR@"`
diff --git a/internal/pkg/config/tftp.go b/internal/pkg/config/tftp.go
index 78f8d2aa..bdbfeeba 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/config/tftp.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/config/tftp.go
@@ -7,6 +7,5 @@ type TFTPConf struct {
 	TftpRoot    string `yaml:"tftproot" default:"/var/lib/tftpboot"`
 	SystemdName string `yaml:"systemd name" default:"tftp"`
 
-	// Path is relative to buildconfig.DATADIR()
 	IpxeBinaries map[string]string `yaml:"ipxe" default:"{\"00:09\": \"ipxe/ipxe-snponly-x86_64.efi\",\"00:00\": \"ipxe/undionly.kpxe\",\"00:0B\": \"ipxe/arm64-efi/snponly.efi\",\"00:07\":  \"ipxe/ipxe-snponly-x86_64.efi\"}"`
 }
diff --git a/internal/pkg/configure/tftp.go b/internal/pkg/configure/tftp.go
index 71d7719c..82e023f3 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/configure/tftp.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/configure/tftp.go
@@ -23,11 +23,14 @@ func TFTP() error {
 	fmt.Printf("Writing PXE files to: %s\n", tftpdir)
 	copyCheck := make(map[string]bool)
 	for _, f := range controller.TFTP.IpxeBinaries {
+		if !path.IsAbs(f) {
+			f = path.Join(controller.Paths.Ipxesource, f)
+		}
 		if copyCheck[f] {
 			continue
 		}
 		copyCheck[f] = true
-		err = util.SafeCopyFile(path.Join(controller.Paths.Datadir, f), path.Join(tftpdir, path.Base(f)))
+		err = util.SafeCopyFile(f, path.Join(tftpdir, path.Base(f)))
 		if err != nil {
 			wwlog.Warn("ipxe binary could not be copied, booting may not work: %s", err)
 		}
diff --git a/ipxe-update.sh b/ipxe-update.sh
index e7af33ea..1db450a5 100755
--- a/ipxe-update.sh
+++ b/ipxe-update.sh
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ ARCH=x86_64
 PCBIOS=bin-${ARCH}-pcbios/undionly.kpxe
 EFI=bin-${ARCH}-efi/ipxe.efi
 
-PCBIOS_output=`pwd`/staticfiles/${ARCH}.kpxe
-EFI_output=`pwd`/staticfiles/${ARCH}.efi
+PCBIOS_output=${ARCH}.kpxe
+EFI_output=${ARCH}.efi
 
 SYSBIOS="/usr/share/ipxe/undionly.kpxe"
 SYSEFI="/usr/share/ipxe/ipxe-${ARCH}.efi"
diff --git a/staticfiles/README-ipxe.md b/staticfiles/README-ipxe.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 19df4ed7..00000000
--- a/staticfiles/README-ipxe.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-# Warewulf-provided iPXE binaries
-
-- `arm64.efi` - EFI support for `arm64` processors
-- `x86_64.efi` - EFI support for `x86_64` processors
-- `x86_64.kpxe` - legacy BIOS support for `x86_64` processors
-
-## Rebuilding
-
-The iPXE binaries can be rebuilt with the `ipxe-update.sh`
-script. This script accepts command-line arguments that are passed to
-the underlying `make` process. e.g.,
-
-```bash
-echo "#!ipxe
-echo Tagging with vlan 1000
-vcreate --tag 1000 net0 autoboot || shell" >vlan-1000.ipxe
-
-sh ipxe-update.sh EMBED=$(readlink -f vlan-1000.ipxe)
-```
diff --git a/staticfiles/README.md b/staticfiles/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 01c2460d..00000000
--- a/staticfiles/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-# Warewulf-bundled static files
-
-These files are bundled statically with Warewulf 4.
-
-See also: [README-ipxe.md](README-ipxe.md)
diff --git a/staticfiles/arm64.efi b/staticfiles/arm64.efi
deleted file mode 100644
index e786fed7..00000000
Binary files a/staticfiles/arm64.efi and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/staticfiles/x86_64.efi b/staticfiles/x86_64.efi
deleted file mode 100644
index 5a3e3638..00000000
Binary files a/staticfiles/x86_64.efi and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/staticfiles/x86_64.kpxe b/staticfiles/x86_64.kpxe
deleted file mode 100644
index 51264c12..00000000
Binary files a/staticfiles/x86_64.kpxe and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/warewulf.spec.in b/warewulf.spec.in
index 83ad5034..318703fb 100644
--- a/warewulf.spec.in
+++ b/warewulf.spec.in
@@ -39,9 +39,11 @@ BuildRequires: go >= 1.16
 BuildRequires: firewall-macros
 BuildRequires: firewalld
 BuildRequires: tftp
+BuildRequires: yq
 Requires: tftp
 Requires: nfs-kernel-server
 Requires: firewalld
+Requires: ipxe-bootimgs
 %else
 # Assume Red Hat/Fedora build
 BuildRequires: system-release
@@ -50,6 +52,8 @@ BuildRequires: golang >= 1.16
 BuildRequires: firewalld-filesystem
 Requires: tftp-server
 Requires: nfs-utils
+Requires: ipxe-bootimgs-x86
+Requires: ipxe-bootimgs-aarch64
 %endif
 
 %if 0%{?rhel} >= 8 || 0%{?suse_version} || 0%{?fedora}
@@ -89,7 +93,8 @@ make defaults \
     SYSTEMDDIR=%{_unitdir} \
     BASHCOMPDIR=/etc/bash_completion.d/ \
     FIREWALLDDIR=/usr/lib/firewalld/services \
-    WWCLIENTDIR=/warewulf
+    WWCLIENTDIR=/warewulf \
+    IPXESOURCE=/usr/share/ipxe
 make
 
 
@@ -102,6 +107,15 @@ make install \
 
 %pre
 getent group %{wwgroup} >/dev/null || groupadd -r %{wwgroup}
+# use ipxe images from the distribution
+%if 0%{?suse_version} || 0%{?sle_version}
+yq e '
+  .tftp.ipxe."00:00" = "undionly.kpxe" |
+  .tftp.ipxe."00:07" = "ipxe-x86_64.efi" |
+  .tftp.ipxe."00:09" = "ipxe-x86_64.efi" |
+  .tftp.ipxe."00:0B" = "snp-arm64.efi" ' \
+  -i %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/warewulf/warewulf.conf
+%endif
 
 
 %post