diff --git a/cpu/native/Makefile.include b/cpu/native/Makefile.include
index 63b2fa3a9a01..1a2ba36a69fc 100644
--- a/cpu/native/Makefile.include
+++ b/cpu/native/Makefile.include
@@ -19,3 +19,10 @@ ifeq ($(OS) $(OS_ARCH),Linux x86_64)
 endif
 
 include $(RIOTMAKE)/arch/native.inc.mk
+
+USE_LIBUCONTEXT := $(shell pkg-config libucontext 2> /dev/null && echo 1 || echo 0)
+
+ifeq ($(USE_LIBUCONTEXT),1)
+  CFLAGS += $(pkg-config libucontext --cflags) -DUSE_LIBUCONTEXT=1
+  LINKFLAGS += $(shell pkg-config libucontext --libs)
+endif
diff --git a/cpu/native/include/native_internal.h b/cpu/native/include/native_internal.h
index eff3c135fc52..91744bab5066 100644
--- a/cpu/native/include/native_internal.h
+++ b/cpu/native/include/native_internal.h
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ extern volatile int _native_in_isr;
 extern volatile int _native_in_syscall;
 
 extern char __isr_stack[];
-extern char __end_stack[];
+extern const size_t __isr_stack_size;
 extern ucontext_t native_isr_context;
 extern ucontext_t end_context;
 extern ucontext_t *_native_cur_ctx, *_native_isr_ctx;
diff --git a/cpu/native/irq_cpu.c b/cpu/native/irq_cpu.c
index 030819c07b5b..c5e404115ae4 100644
--- a/cpu/native/irq_cpu.c
+++ b/cpu/native/irq_cpu.c
@@ -13,10 +13,16 @@
  * @author  Ludwig Knüpfer <ludwig.knuepfer@fu-berlin.de>
  */
 
+/* __USE_GNU for gregs[REG_EIP] access under glibc
+ * _GNU_SOURCE for REG_EIP and strsignal() under musl */
+#define __USE_GNU
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
+
 #include <err.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
-#include <stdlib.h>
 
 #ifdef HAVE_VALGRIND_H
 #include <valgrind.h>
@@ -29,16 +35,12 @@
 #define VALGRIND_DEBUG(...)
 #endif
 
-/* __USE_GNU for gregs[REG_EIP] access under Linux */
-#define __USE_GNU
-#include <signal.h>
-#undef __USE_GNU
-
 #include "irq.h"
 #include "cpu.h"
 #include "periph/pm.h"
 
 #include "native_internal.h"
+#include "test_utils/expect.h"
 
 #define ENABLE_DEBUG 0
 #include "debug.h"
@@ -50,6 +52,7 @@ volatile int _native_in_syscall;
 static sigset_t _native_sig_set, _native_sig_set_dint;
 
 char __isr_stack[THREAD_STACKSIZE_DEFAULT];
+const size_t __isr_stack_size = sizeof(__isr_stack);
 ucontext_t native_isr_context;
 ucontext_t *_native_cur_ctx, *_native_isr_ctx;
 
@@ -58,7 +61,6 @@ volatile int _native_sigpend;
 int _sig_pipefd[2];
 
 static _native_callback_t native_irq_handlers[255];
-char sigalt_stk[SIGSTKSZ];
 
 void *thread_isr_stack_pointer(void)
 {
@@ -523,8 +525,9 @@ void native_interrupt_init(void)
     _native_isr_ctx = &native_isr_context;
 
     static stack_t sigstk;
-    sigstk.ss_sp = sigalt_stk;
-    sigstk.ss_size = sizeof(sigalt_stk);
+    sigstk.ss_sp = malloc(SIGSTKSZ);
+    expect(sigstk.ss_sp != NULL);
+    sigstk.ss_size = SIGSTKSZ;
     sigstk.ss_flags = 0;
 
     if (sigaltstack(&sigstk, NULL) < 0) {
diff --git a/cpu/native/native_cpu.c b/cpu/native/native_cpu.c
index 8c4d81f0f206..c2c1a39ca4af 100644
--- a/cpu/native/native_cpu.c
+++ b/cpu/native/native_cpu.c
@@ -21,16 +21,22 @@
  * @author  Kaspar Schleiser <kaspar@schleiser.de>
  */
 
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include <unistd.h>
-#include <stdlib.h>
-
+/* __USE_GNU for gregs[REG_EIP] access under glibc
+ * _GNU_SOURCE for REG_EIP and strsignal() under musl */
 #define __USE_GNU
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
+
+#include <err.h>
 #include <signal.h>
-#undef __USE_GNU
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 
+#if USE_LIBUCONTEXT
+#include <libucontext/libucontext.h>
+#else
 #include <ucontext.h>
-#include <err.h>
+#endif
 
 #ifdef HAVE_VALGRIND_H
 #include <valgrind.h>
@@ -45,11 +51,11 @@
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
-#include "irq.h"
-#include "sched.h"
-
 #include "cpu.h"
 #include "cpu_conf.h"
+#include "irq.h"
+#include "sched.h"
+#include "test_utils/expect.h"
 
 #ifdef MODULE_NETDEV_TAP
 #include "netdev_tap.h"
@@ -62,7 +68,6 @@ extern netdev_tap_t netdev_tap;
 #include "debug.h"
 
 ucontext_t end_context;
-char __end_stack[SIGSTKSZ];
 
 /**
  * make the new context assign `_native_in_isr = 0` before resuming
@@ -194,7 +199,7 @@ void cpu_switch_context_exit(void)
         irq_disable();
         _native_in_isr = 1;
         native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_sp = __isr_stack;
-        native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_size = SIGSTKSZ;
+        native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_size = __isr_stack_size;
         native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_flags = 0;
         makecontext(&native_isr_context, isr_cpu_switch_context_exit, 0);
         if (setcontext(&native_isr_context) == -1) {
@@ -247,7 +252,7 @@ void thread_yield_higher(void)
         _native_in_isr = 1;
         irq_disable();
         native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_sp = __isr_stack;
-        native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_size = SIGSTKSZ;
+        native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_size = __isr_stack_size;
         native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_flags = 0;
         makecontext(&native_isr_context, isr_thread_yield, 0);
         if (swapcontext(ctx, &native_isr_context) == -1) {
@@ -263,13 +268,16 @@ void native_cpu_init(void)
         err(EXIT_FAILURE, "native_cpu_init: getcontext");
     }
 
-    end_context.uc_stack.ss_sp = __end_stack;
+    end_context.uc_stack.ss_sp = malloc(SIGSTKSZ);
+    expect(end_context.uc_stack.ss_sp != NULL);
     end_context.uc_stack.ss_size = SIGSTKSZ;
     end_context.uc_stack.ss_flags = 0;
     makecontext(&end_context, sched_task_exit, 0);
-    (void) VALGRIND_STACK_REGISTER(__end_stack, __end_stack + sizeof(__end_stack));
+    (void)VALGRIND_STACK_REGISTER(end_context.uc_stack.ss_sp,
+                                  (char *)end_context.uc_stack.ss_sp + end_context.uc_stack.ss_size);
     VALGRIND_DEBUG("VALGRIND_STACK_REGISTER(%p, %p)\n",
-                   (void*)__end_stack, (void*)(__end_stack + sizeof(__end_stack)));
+                   (void*)end_context.uc_stack.ss_sp,
+                   (void*)((char *)end_context.uc_stack.ss_sp + end_context.uc_stack.ss_size));
 
     DEBUG("RIOT native cpu initialized.\n");
 }
diff --git a/cpu/native/startup.c b/cpu/native/startup.c
index 5014e0c70141..bb3431a7ed42 100644
--- a/cpu/native/startup.c
+++ b/cpu/native/startup.c
@@ -22,30 +22,28 @@
 #else
 #include <dlfcn.h>
 #endif
-#include "byteorder.h"
 #include <assert.h>
+#include <err.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <features.h>
 #include <getopt.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-#include <unistd.h>
-#include <err.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#include <fcntl.h>
-#include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 
-#include "kernel_init.h"
-#include "cpu.h"
+#include "byteorder.h"
 #include "irq.h"
-
-#include "board_internal.h"
+#include "kernel_init.h"
 #include "native_internal.h"
-#include "stdio_base.h"
-#include "tty_uart.h"
-
 #include "periph/init.h"
 #include "periph/pm.h"
+#include "test_utils/expect.h"
+#include "tty_uart.h"
 
 #define ENABLE_DEBUG 0
 #include "debug.h"
@@ -121,6 +119,12 @@ static const char short_opts[] = ":hi:s:deEoc:"
 #endif
     "";
 
+#if __GLIBC__
+static const bool _is_glibc = true;
+#else
+static const bool _is_glibc = false;
+#endif
+
 static const struct option long_opts[] = {
     { "help", no_argument, NULL, 'h' },
     { "id", required_argument, NULL, 'i' },
@@ -468,6 +472,49 @@ __attribute__((constructor)) static void startup(int argc, char **argv, char **e
     /* initialize stdio as early as possible */
     early_init();
 
+    /* Passing argc, argv, and envp to init_fini handlers is a glibc
+     * extension. If we are not running glibc, we parse /proc/self/cmdline
+     * to populate argc and argv by hand */
+    if (!_is_glibc) {
+        const size_t bufsize = 4096;
+        const size_t argc_max = 32;
+        size_t cmdlen = 0;
+        char *cmdline = malloc(bufsize);
+        argv = calloc(sizeof(char *), argc_max);
+        argc = 0;
+        envp = NULL;
+        expect(cmdline != NULL);
+        int cmdfd = real_open("/proc/self/cmdline", O_RDONLY);
+        expect(cmdfd != -1);
+        ssize_t count;
+        do {
+            count = real_read(cmdfd, cmdline + cmdlen, bufsize - cmdlen);
+            if (count < 0) {
+                if ((errno == EWOULDBLOCK) || (errno == EAGAIN)) {
+                    continue;
+                }
+                expect(0);
+            }
+            cmdlen += count;
+        } while (count > 0);
+        real_close(cmdfd);
+        cmdline = realloc(cmdline, cmdlen);
+
+        char *argpos = cmdline;
+        while ((size_t)argc < argc_max) {
+            if (argpos == cmdline + cmdlen) {
+                argv[argc] = NULL;
+                break;
+            }
+            size_t len = strlen(argpos);
+
+            argv[argc++] = argpos;
+            argpos += len + 1;
+        }
+        expect((size_t)argc < argc_max);
+        argv = realloc(argv, sizeof(char *) * (argc + 1));
+    }
+
     _native_argv = argv;
     _progname = argv[0];
     _native_pid = real_getpid();
diff --git a/cpu/native/syscalls.c b/cpu/native/syscalls.c
index 382183d23aa7..76a13e9f814a 100644
--- a/cpu/native/syscalls.c
+++ b/cpu/native/syscalls.c
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ void _native_syscall_leave(void)
          * stacks are manually word aligned in thread_static_init() */
         _native_cur_ctx = (ucontext_t *)(uintptr_t)thread_get_active()->sp;
         native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_sp = __isr_stack;
-        native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_size = SIGSTKSZ;
+        native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_size = __isr_stack_size;
         native_isr_context.uc_stack.ss_flags = 0;
         native_interrupts_enabled = 0;
         makecontext(&native_isr_context, native_irq_handler, 0);