diff --git a/utils/brmake b/utils/brmake
index 70dfb6cdc8..4756016a0c 100755
--- a/utils/brmake
+++ b/utils/brmake
@@ -12,7 +12,13 @@ main() {
 
     start=${SECONDS}
 
-    ( exec 2>&1; unbuffer make "${@}"; ) \
+    if [ -n "$BR2_DOCKER" ]; then
+        docker=("${0%/*}/docker-run")
+    else
+        docker=()
+    fi
+
+    ( exec 2>&1; unbuffer "${docker[@]}" make "${@}"; ) \
     > >( while read -r line; do
              printf "%(%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S)T %s\n" -1 "${line}"
          done \
diff --git a/utils/readme.txt b/utils/readme.txt
index b5862f1fb9..abff659d4f 100644
--- a/utils/readme.txt
+++ b/utils/readme.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ brmake
     front of each line, redirects all of the build output to a file
     ("'br.log' in the current directory), and just outputs the Buildroot
     messages (those lines starting with >>>) on stdout.
+    To run this within a container using docker-run (see below), set
+    BR2_DOCKER=y in the environment, i.e. call it as
+    `BR2_DOCKER=y utils/brmake`.
     Do not run this script for interactive configuration (e.g. menuconfig)
     or on an unconfigured directory. The output is redirected so you will see
     nothing.