diff --git a/Lib/distutils/unixccompiler.py b/Lib/distutils/unixccompiler.py
index 92d14dfee72..3f321c28dc3 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/unixccompiler.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/unixccompiler.py
@@ -227,6 +227,8 @@ def runtime_library_dir_option(self, dir):
         if sys.platform[:6] == "darwin":
             # MacOSX's linker doesn't understand the -R flag at all
             return "-L" + dir
+        elif sys.platform[:7] == "freebsd":
+            return "-Wl,-rpath=" + dir
         elif sys.platform[:5] == "hp-ux":
             if self._is_gcc(compiler):
                 return ["-Wl,+s", "-L" + dir]