diff --git a/doc/stdenv.xml b/doc/stdenv.xml
index 94bd7365dd9a6f..0b5dabb06d27d5 100644
--- a/doc/stdenv.xml
+++ b/doc/stdenv.xml
@@ -1499,6 +1499,15 @@ installTargets = "install-bin install-doc";</programlisting>
        dependencies.
       </para>
      </listitem>
+     <listitem>
+       <para>
+         On Linux, it uses <command>patchelf</command> on all libraries in
+         the <filename>lib</filename> tree to make the <varname>DT_SONAME</varname>
+         an absolute path to the library. This makes other binaries that
+         link against it access it directly rather than searching through
+         <varname>DT_RUNPATH</varname>, which increases efficiency.
+       </para>
+     </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        It rewrites the interpreter paths of shell scripts to paths found in
@@ -1621,6 +1630,18 @@ installTargets = "install-bin install-doc";</programlisting>
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
+    <varlistentry>
+      <term>
+        <varname>noAbsoluteSoname</varname>
+      </term>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          If set, the <varname>DT_SONAME</varname> entries of the shared
+          libraries in the output will be left unmodified. Only applies
+          to Linux.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
+    </varlistentry>
     <varlistentry>
      <term>
       <varname>dontPatchShebangs</varname>
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix
index 2caab69cbb95ce..c61e8606c703b1 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix
@@ -61,6 +61,13 @@ let
           ld*.so.?) continue;;
         esac
 
+        # $next might be an absolute path
+        if [ -f "$next" ]; then
+          echo "$next"
+          add_needed "$next"
+          continue
+        fi
+
         IFS=: read -ra paths <<< $rpath
         res=
         for path in "''${paths[@]}"; do
@@ -166,16 +173,25 @@ let
       stripDirs "$STRIP" "lib bin" "-s"
 
       # Run patchelf to make the programs refer to the copied libraries.
-      find $out/bin $out/lib -type f | while read i; do
+      ( find $out/bin -type f ; find $out/lib -type f -not -name "ld*" ) | while read i; do
         if ! test -L $i; then
-          nuke-refs -e $out $i
+          echo "patching $i..."
+          libs=$(patchelf --print-needed $i)
+          replacements=""
+          for library in $libs; do
+            [[ library = */ld* ]] && continue
+            replacements+="--replace-needed $library $(basename $library) "
+          done
+          patchelf $replacements $i || true
+          patchelf --set-rpath $out/lib $i || true
+          [[ $i = $out/bin/* ]] && patchelf --set-interpreter $out/lib/ld*.so.? $i || true
         fi
       done
 
-      find $out/bin -type f | while read i; do
+      # Remove any remaining refs to the outside
+      find $out/bin $out/lib -type f | while read i; do
         if ! test -L $i; then
-          echo "patching $i..."
-          patchelf --set-interpreter $out/lib/ld*.so.? --set-rpath $out/lib $i || true
+          nuke-refs -e $out $i
         fi
       done
 
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/set-soname.sh b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/set-soname.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..5a408905e8ae01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/set-soname.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[[ -z "$noAbsoluteSoname" ]] && fixupOutputHooks+=(_doAbsoluteSoname)
+
+_doAbsoluteSoname() {
+    echo "Making sonames absolute"
+    if test -d "$prefix" ; then
+        find "$prefix" -type f '(' -name "lib*.so.*" -or -name 'lib*.so' ')' -not -name 'ld*' -exec patchelf --set-soname {} {} ';'
+    fi
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc/6/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc/6/default.nix
index 0fb390758954ac..060b8123c185d3 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc/6/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc/6/default.nix
@@ -162,6 +162,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ({
 
   builder = ../builder.sh;
 
+  noAbsoluteSoname = true;
+
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "mirror://gnu/gcc/gcc-${version}/gcc-${version}.tar.xz";
     sha256 = "1m0lr7938lw5d773dkvwld90hjlcq2282517d1gwvrfzmwgg42w5";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix
index 8b4a213aae0517..8a6c18140278ca 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix
@@ -145,6 +145,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ({
   # prevent a retained dependency on the bootstrap tools in the stdenv-linux
   # bootstrap.
   BASH_SHELL = "/bin/sh";
+
+  noAbsoluteSoname = true;
 }
 
 // (removeAttrs args [ "withLinuxHeaders" "withGd" ]) //
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
index 890ff7b64a9153..ddc895b8900e34 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [ zlib ];
 
   inherit noSysDirs;
+  noAbsoluteSoname = true;
 
   preConfigure = ''
     # Clear the default library search path.
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
index 2eac9e58daa643..a7d0d33686abd1 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ let
       ../../build-support/setup-hooks/compress-man-pages.sh
       ../../build-support/setup-hooks/strip.sh
       ../../build-support/setup-hooks/patch-shebangs.sh
+      ../../build-support/setup-hooks/set-soname.sh
     ]
       # FIXME this on Darwin; see
       # https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/94d164dd7#commitcomment-22030369