diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 041a85583..972b99f9f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -168,6 +168,18 @@ switch is running:
 The script will display events of significance (table hits / misses, parser
 transitions, ...) for each packet.
 
+## Loading shared objects dynamically
+
+Some targets (simple_switch and simple_switch_grpc) let the user load shared
+libraries dynamically at runtime. This is done by using the target-specific
+command-line option `--load-modules`, which takes as a parameter a
+comma-separated list of shared objects. This functionality is currently only
+available on systems where `dlopen` is available. Make sure that the shared
+objects are visible by the dynamic loader (e.g. by setting `LD_LIBRARY_PATH`
+appropriately on Linux). You can control whether this feature is available by
+using `--enable-modules` / `--disable-modules` when configuring bmv2. By
+default, this feature is enabled when `dlopen` is available.
+
 ## Integrating with Mininet
 
 We will provide more information in a separate document. However you can test
diff --git a/include/bm/bm_sim/target_parser.h b/include/bm/bm_sim/target_parser.h
index f9a998fa2..67c78280e 100644
--- a/include/bm/bm_sim/target_parser.h
+++ b/include/bm/bm_sim/target_parser.h
@@ -124,6 +124,30 @@ class TargetParserBasic : public TargetParserIface {
   std::unique_ptr<TargetParserBasicStore> var_store;
 };
 
+//! Same as TargetParserBasic but supports the '--load-modules' command-line
+//! option by default. This option is used to load shared objects dynamically at
+//! runtime. Often, these objects / modules contain new primtive action or
+//! extern definitions. If you plan on using '--load-modules' in your target,
+//! and you plan on providing primitive / extern definitions dynamically, you
+//! will need to link your executable with -rdynamic.
+class TargetParserBasicWithDynModules : public TargetParserBasic {
+ public:
+  TargetParserBasicWithDynModules();
+  ~TargetParserBasicWithDynModules();
+
+  //! See bm::TargetParserIface::parse. Make sure all possible options have been
+  //! registered using add_string_option(), add_int_option(), add_uint_option()
+  //! or add_flag_option().
+  int parse(const std::vector<std::string> &more_options,
+            std::ostream *errstream) override;
+
+ private:
+  //! Name of the option.
+  static constexpr char load_modules_option[] = "load-modules";
+
+  int load_modules(std::ostream *errstream);
+};
+
 }  // namespace bm
 
 #endif  // BM_BM_SIM_TARGET_PARSER_H_
diff --git a/src/bm_sim/target_parser.cpp b/src/bm_sim/target_parser.cpp
index 4416d5a24..5e905d88c 100644
--- a/src/bm_sim/target_parser.cpp
+++ b/src/bm_sim/target_parser.cpp
@@ -18,15 +18,23 @@
  *
  */
 
+#include <bm/config.h>
+
+#ifdef BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
+#include <dlfcn.h>
+#endif  // BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
+
+#include <bm/bm_sim/_assert.h>
 #include <bm/bm_sim/target_parser.h>
 
 #include <boost/program_options.hpp>
 
-#include <string>
-#include <vector>
 #include <memory>
-#include <unordered_set>
 #include <ostream>
+#include <sstream>
+#include <string>
+#include <unordered_set>
+#include <vector>
 
 namespace po = boost::program_options;
 
@@ -173,4 +181,54 @@ TargetParserBasic::get_flag_option(const std::string &name, bool *v) const {
   return var_store->get_option<bool>(name, v);
 }
 
+TargetParserBasicWithDynModules::TargetParserBasicWithDynModules() {
+#ifdef BM_ENABLE_MODULES
+    add_string_option(load_modules_option,
+                      "Load the given .so files (comma-separated) as modules.");
+#endif  // BM_ENABLE_MODULES
+}
+
+TargetParserBasicWithDynModules::~TargetParserBasicWithDynModules() = default;
+
+int
+TargetParserBasicWithDynModules::parse(
+    const std::vector<std::string> &more_options,
+    std::ostream *errstream) {
+  int rc = 0;
+  if ((rc = TargetParserBasic::parse(more_options, errstream)) != 0) return rc;
+#ifdef BM_ENABLE_MODULES
+  if ((rc = load_modules(errstream)) != 0) return rc;
+#endif  // BM_ENABLE_MODULES
+  return 0;
+}
+
+int
+TargetParserBasicWithDynModules::load_modules(std::ostream *errstream) {
+  _BM_UNUSED(errstream);
+#ifdef BM_ENABLE_MODULES
+  std::string modules;
+  ReturnCode retval = get_string_option(load_modules_option, &modules);
+  if (retval == ReturnCode::OPTION_NOT_PROVIDED)
+    return 0;
+  if (retval != ReturnCode::SUCCESS)
+    return 1;  // Unexpected error
+  std::istringstream iss(modules);
+  std::string module;
+  while (std::getline(iss, module, ',')) {
+#ifdef BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
+    if (!dlopen(module.c_str(), RTLD_NOW | RTLD_GLOBAL)) {
+      *errstream << "WARNING: Skipping module: " << module << ": "
+                 << dlerror() << std::endl;
+    }
+#else  // BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
+#error modules enabled, but no loading method available
+#endif  // BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
+  }
+#endif  // BM_ENABLE_MODULES
+  return 0;
+}
+
+/* static */
+constexpr char TargetParserBasicWithDynModules::load_modules_option[];
+
 }  // namespace bm
diff --git a/targets/simple_switch/main.cpp b/targets/simple_switch/main.cpp
index 93e5a5c24..d19b71950 100644
--- a/targets/simple_switch/main.cpp
+++ b/targets/simple_switch/main.cpp
@@ -22,81 +22,14 @@
 
 #include <bm/config.h>
 
-#ifdef BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
-#  include <dlfcn.h>
-#endif  // BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
 #include <bm/SimpleSwitch.h>
 #include <bm/bm_runtime/bm_runtime.h>
 #include <bm/bm_sim/target_parser.h>
 
-#include <sstream>
-#include <string>
-#include <vector>
-
 #include "simple_switch.h"
 
 namespace {
 SimpleSwitch *simple_switch;
-
-std::string load_modules_option = "load-modules";
-
-class SimpleSwitchParser : public bm::TargetParserBasic {
- public:
-  SimpleSwitchParser() {
-    add_flag_option("enable-swap",
-                    "enable JSON swapping at runtime");
-#ifdef BM_ENABLE_MODULES
-    add_string_option(load_modules_option,
-                      "load the given .so files as modules");
-#endif  // BM_ENABLE_MODULES
-  }
-
-  int parse(const std::vector<std::string> &more_options,
-                    std::ostream *errstream) override {
-    int result = ::bm::TargetParserBasic::parse(more_options, errstream);
-#ifdef BM_ENABLE_MODULES
-    load_modules(errstream);
-#endif  // BM_ENABLE_MODULES
-    set_enable_swap();
-    return result;
-  }
-
- protected:
-#ifdef BM_ENABLE_MODULES
-  int load_modules(std::ostream *errstream) {
-    std::string modules;
-    ReturnCode retval = get_string_option(load_modules_option, &modules);
-    if (retval == ReturnCode::OPTION_NOT_PROVIDED) {
-      return 0;
-    }
-    if (retval != ReturnCode::SUCCESS) {
-      return -1;  // Unexpected error
-    }
-    std::istringstream iss(modules);
-    std::string module;
-    while (std::getline(iss, module, ',')) {
-#  ifdef BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
-      if (!dlopen(module.c_str(), RTLD_NOW | RTLD_GLOBAL)) {
-        *errstream << "WARNING: Skipping module: " << module << ": "
-                   << dlerror() << std::endl;
-      }
-#  else  // BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
-      #error modules enabled, but no loading method available
-#  endif  // BM_HAVE_DLOPEN
-    }
-    return 0;
-  }
-#endif  // BM_ENABLE_MODULES
-
-  void set_enable_swap() {
-    bool enable_swap = false;
-    if (get_flag_option("enable-swap", &enable_swap) != ReturnCode::SUCCESS)
-      std::exit(1);
-    if (enable_swap) simple_switch->enable_config_swap();
-  }
-};
-
-SimpleSwitchParser *simple_switch_parser;
 }  // namespace
 
 namespace sswitch_runtime {
@@ -106,11 +39,20 @@ shared_ptr<SimpleSwitchIf> get_handler(SimpleSwitch *sw);
 int
 main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
   simple_switch = new SimpleSwitch();
-  simple_switch_parser = new SimpleSwitchParser();
+  bm::TargetParserBasicWithDynModules simple_switch_parser;
+  simple_switch_parser.add_flag_option("enable-swap",
+                                       "enable JSON swapping at runtime");
   int status = simple_switch->init_from_command_line_options(
-      argc, argv, simple_switch_parser);
+      argc, argv, &simple_switch_parser);
   if (status != 0) std::exit(status);
 
+  bool enable_swap_flag = false;
+  if (simple_switch_parser.get_flag_option("enable-swap", &enable_swap_flag)
+      != bm::TargetParserBasic::ReturnCode::SUCCESS) {
+    std::exit(1);
+  }
+  if (enable_swap_flag) simple_switch->enable_config_swap();
+
   int thrift_port = simple_switch->get_runtime_port();
   bm_runtime::start_server(simple_switch, thrift_port);
   using ::sswitch_runtime::SimpleSwitchIf;
diff --git a/targets/simple_switch_grpc/Makefile.am b/targets/simple_switch_grpc/Makefile.am
index 26c3ba53a..1a8510cc4 100644
--- a/targets/simple_switch_grpc/Makefile.am
+++ b/targets/simple_switch_grpc/Makefile.am
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ libsimple_switch_grpc.la
 # We follow this tutorial to link with grpc++_reflection:
 # https://github.com/grpc/grpc/blob/master/doc/server_reflection_tutorial.md
 simple_switch_grpc_LDFLAGS = \
--Wl,--no-as-needed,-lgrpc++_reflection,--as-needed
+-Wl,--no-as-needed,-lgrpc++_reflection,--as-needed \
+-rdynamic
 
 lib_LTLIBRARIES = libbm_grpc_dataplane.la
 noinst_LTLIBRARIES = libsimple_switch_grpc.la
diff --git a/targets/simple_switch_grpc/main.cpp b/targets/simple_switch_grpc/main.cpp
index 53fe0f44b..b6b3f001f 100644
--- a/targets/simple_switch_grpc/main.cpp
+++ b/targets/simple_switch_grpc/main.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 
 int
 main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
-  bm::TargetParserBasic simple_switch_parser;
+  bm::TargetParserBasicWithDynModules simple_switch_parser;
   simple_switch_parser.add_flag_option(
       "disable-swap",
       "disable JSON swapping at runtime");