diff --git a/Dockerfile.dapper b/Dockerfile.dapper
index 4fdb55efed68..a100b6fa0306 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.dapper
+++ b/Dockerfile.dapper
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ ARG SELINUX=true
 ENV SELINUX $SELINUX
 
 ENV DAPPER_RUN_ARGS --privileged -v k3s-cache:/go/src/github.com/k3s-io/k3s/.cache -v trivy-cache:/root/.cache/trivy
-ENV DAPPER_ENV REPO TAG DRONE_TAG IMAGE_NAME SKIP_VALIDATE SKIP_AIRGAP AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID GITHUB_TOKEN GOLANG GOCOVER DEBUG
+ENV DAPPER_ENV REPO TAG DRONE_TAG IMAGE_NAME ARCH SKIP_VALIDATE SKIP_IMAGE SKIP_AIRGAP AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID GITHUB_TOKEN GOLANG GOCOVER DEBUG
 ENV DAPPER_SOURCE /go/src/github.com/k3s-io/k3s/
 ENV DAPPER_OUTPUT ./bin ./dist ./build/out ./build/static ./pkg/static ./pkg/deploy
 
diff --git a/scripts/build b/scripts/build
index b4ca5dd20e2d..7328048ae84e 100755
--- a/scripts/build
+++ b/scripts/build
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ fi
 if [ ${ARCH} = riscv64 ]; then
     export GOARCH="riscv64"
     # These are needed as we are cross-compiling
-    export CC=riscv64-linux-gnu-gcc
-    export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/lib/riscv64-linux-gnu/pkgconfig/
+    export CC="riscv64-alpine-linux-musl-gcc"
+    export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/builder/sysroot-riscv64/usr/lib/pkgconfig/
 fi
 
 rm -f \
diff --git a/scripts/ci b/scripts/ci
index 9fb3ec5fb6bd..db3d3f0d5816 100755
--- a/scripts/ci
+++ b/scripts/ci
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ pushd $SCRIPT_DIR
 
 ./download
 ./validate
+if [ ${ARCH} = riscv64 ]; then
+    ./prepare-cross
+fi
 ./build
 ./package
 
diff --git a/scripts/cross-compile-riscv.sh b/scripts/cross-compile-riscv.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index e39fd5e0bcd6..000000000000
--- a/scripts/cross-compile-riscv.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-#/bin/bash
-
-# Cross-compile for RISC-V in an Ubuntu 22.04 container
-
-# To run mount a clean checkout of the code inside the container and run the script:
-#
-#   docker run --rm --mount type=bind,source=${PWD},target=/k3s ubuntu:22.04 /bin/bash -c /k3s/scripts/cross-compile-riscv.sh
-
-dpkg --add-architecture riscv64
-apt-get update
-apt-get install -y wget curl git gcc-riscv64-linux-gnu g++-riscv64-linux-gnu pkg-config libseccomp-dev:riscv64 make zstd
-
-HOST_ARCH=$(uname -m)
-if [ ${HOST_ARCH} = aarch64 ]; then
-    HOST_ARCH=arm64
-fi
-
-GOLANG_VERSION=1.20.4
-wget -P /tmp "https://dl.google.com/go/go${GOLANG_VERSION}.linux-${HOST_ARCH}.tar.gz"
-(cd /; tar -C /usr/local -xzf "/tmp/go${GOLANG_VERSION}.linux-${HOST_ARCH}.tar.gz")
-rm -rf /tmp/go${GOLANG_VERSION}.linux-${HOST_ARCH}.tar.gz
-mkdir -p /go/src /go/bin
-
-export GOPATH=/go
-export PATH=$GOPATH/bin:/usr/local/go/bin:$PATH
-
-wget -qO /usr/local/bin/yq https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/latest/download/${HOST_ARCH}
-chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yq
-
-cd /k3s
-export ARCH=riscv64
-bash -x ./scripts/download
-bash -x ./scripts/build
-bash -x ./scripts/package-cli
diff --git a/scripts/package b/scripts/package
index 51b8f417bb65..ca2123657e39 100755
--- a/scripts/package
+++ b/scripts/package
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ if [ ! -e ../bin/containerd ]; then
 fi
 
 ./package-cli
-./package-image
+if [ -z "$SKIP_IMAGE" ]; then
+    ./package-image
+fi
 if [ -z "$SKIP_AIRGAP" ]; then
     ./package-airgap
 fi
diff --git a/scripts/prepare-cross b/scripts/prepare-cross
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..9fa4c3c285f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/prepare-cross
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#/bin/bash
+
+# This script prepare a cross-compilation environment for $ARCH
+
+if [ -z "$ARCH" ]; then
+    echo "Error: ARCH not defined"
+    exit 1;
+fi
+
+if [ "$ARCH" != "riscv64" ]; then
+    echo "Error: Cross-compilation only available for riscv64"
+    exit 1;
+fi
+
+if [ "$ARCH" = "riscv64" ]; then
+    ALPINE_APK_REPO=https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main
+fi
+
+# Build packages for cross-compiling (bootstrap.sh requires a non-root user)
+adduser -D builder
+addgroup builder abuild
+
+su builder -c "abuild-keygen -an"
+cp ~builder/.abuild/builder-*.rsa.pub /etc/apk/keys/
+
+ALPINE_VERSION=$(. /etc/os-release; echo $VERSION_ID | cut -f1,2 -d.)
+su builder -c "cd; git clone --single-branch --branch=$ALPINE_VERSION-stable --depth 1 https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports"
+sed -i "/Cross building base system/i exit 0\n" /home/builder/aports/scripts/bootstrap.sh
+apk update
+su builder -c "CBUILDROOT=~/sysroot-$ARCH ~/aports/scripts/bootstrap.sh $ARCH"
+
+# Install the cross-compiler in the host
+apk -X /home/builder/packages/main add gcc-$ARCH
+
+# Install headers and libraries in the gcc sysroot (upstream packages)
+apk -X $ALPINE_APK_REPO -U --allow-untrusted \
+    -p /home/builder/sysroot-$ARCH --arch $ARCH add \
+    musl musl-dev linux-headers libseccomp-dev libseccomp-static sqlite-dev sqlite-static zlib-static libgcc
+sed -i "s/^prefix=.*/prefix=\/home\/builder\/sysroot-$ARCH\/usr/g" /home/builder/sysroot-riscv64/usr/lib/pkgconfig/libseccomp.pc