diff --git a/cpu/esp8266/doc.md b/cpu/esp8266/doc.md
index 1895cf1483..1613b694bd 100644
--- a/cpu/esp8266/doc.md
+++ b/cpu/esp8266/doc.md
@@ -357,29 +357,12 @@ package at build-time and there is no need to install it separately.
 
 ### Installation of esptool.py (ESP flash programmer tool) {#esp8266_installation_of_esptool}
 
-The RIOT port does not work with the `esptool.py` ESP flasher program
-available on [GitHub](https://github.com/espressif/esptool) or
-as package for your OS.
-Instead, a modified version from the ESP8266 RTOS SDK is required.
 
-To avoid the installation of the complete ESP8266 RTOS SDK, for example
-because RIOT Docker `riotdocker` is used for compilation, `esptool.py`
-has been extracted from the ESP8266 RTOS SDK and placed in RIOT's
-directory `dist/tools/esptool`.
-For convenience, the build system uses always the version from this directory.
+The RIOT port uses the ESP flasher program `esptool.py` as a package directly
+from [GitHub](https://github.com/espressif/esptool) within a virtual Python
+environment.
 
-Therefore, it is **not necessary to install** `esptool.py` explicitly. However
-`esptool.py` depends on `pySerial` which can be installed either
-using `pip`
-
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-sudo pip install pyserial
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-or the package manager of your OS, for example on Debian/Ubuntu systems:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-apt install python-pyserial
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-For more information on `esptool.py`, please refer the
+For more information on `esptool.py`, please refer to the
 [git repository](https://github.com/espressif/esptool).
 
 [Back to table of contents](#esp8266_toc)
diff --git a/pkg/esp8266_sdk/bootloader/Makefile b/pkg/esp8266_sdk/bootloader/Makefile
index 5531cc6788..4d0baf11c6 100644
--- a/pkg/esp8266_sdk/bootloader/Makefile
+++ b/pkg/esp8266_sdk/bootloader/Makefile
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ MODULE := esp_bootloader
 NO_AUTO_SRC = 1
 
 include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.base
+include $(RIOTMAKE)/tools/esptool.inc.mk
 
 # List of bootloader sources.
 include $(CURDIR)/bootloader.inc.mk
@@ -96,7 +97,7 @@ $(ESP_SDK_BOOTLOADER_ELF): $(ESP_SDK_BOOTLOADER_OBJS) \
 	$(Q)$(CC) -o $@ $(LINKFLAGS) -Wl,-Map=$(@:%.elf=%.map)
 
 FLASH_CHIP = esp8266
-ESPTOOL ?= $(RIOTTOOLS)/esptools/esptool.py
+
 # TODO: These should be exported/configurable from the app side. That would
 # require to export these values.
 FLASH_MODE ?= dout
@@ -107,7 +108,8 @@ FLASH_SIZE ?= 4
 # like the regular objdump binary file but it contains a 16 byte header which
 # specifies the flash size, mode and speed that the ROM bootloader uses to load
 # this second-stage bootloader image.
-$(ESP_SDK_BOOTLOADER_BIN): $(ESP_SDK_BOOTLOADER_ELF)
+$(ESP_SDK_BOOTLOADER_BIN): esptool $(ESP_SDK_BOOTLOADER_ELF)
+	$(Q)echo "Generating bootloader image $(ESP_SDK_BOOTLOADER_BIN)"
 	$(Q)$(ESPTOOL) --chip $(FLASH_CHIP) elf2image --flash_mode $(FLASH_MODE) \
-	  --flash_size $(FLASH_SIZE)MB --flash_freq $(FLASH_FREQ) --version 1 -o $@ $<
+	  --flash_size $(FLASH_SIZE)MB --flash_freq $(FLASH_FREQ) -o $@ $(ESP_SDK_BOOTLOADER_ELF)
 	$(Q)mv $(@)0x00000.bin $@