diff --git a/gen/cl_options.cpp b/gen/cl_options.cpp
index 6e0f6e93..1eceadae 100644
--- a/gen/cl_options.cpp
+++ b/gen/cl_options.cpp
@@ -110,6 +110,12 @@ cl::opt<std::string> objectDir("od",
     cl::Prefix,
     cl::desc("Write object files to directory <objdir>"));
 
+cl::opt<std::string> soname("soname",
+    cl::value_desc("soname"),
+    cl::Hidden,
+    cl::Prefix,
+    cl::desc("Use <soname> as output shared library soname"));
+
 
 // Output format options
 cl::opt<bool> output_bc("output-bc",
diff --git a/gen/cl_options.h b/gen/cl_options.h
index 3eb8f5c1..fb6bfeb6 100644
--- a/gen/cl_options.h
+++ b/gen/cl_options.h
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ namespace opts {
     extern cl::opt<bool> dontWriteObj;
     extern cl::opt<std::string> objectFile;
     extern cl::opt<std::string> objectDir;
+    extern cl::opt<std::string> soname;
     extern cl::opt<bool> output_bc;
     extern cl::opt<bool> output_ll;
     extern cl::opt<bool> output_s;
diff --git a/gen/linker.cpp b/gen/linker.cpp
index ce880239..3bf0e8f4 100644
--- a/gen/linker.cpp
+++ b/gen/linker.cpp
@@ -278,8 +278,6 @@ int linkObjToBinary(bool sharedLib)
         }
     }
 
-
-
     args.push_back("-o");
     args.push_back(output.c_str());
 
@@ -315,14 +313,17 @@ int linkObjToBinary(bool sharedLib)
     }
 
     // default libs
+    bool addSoname = false;
     switch(global.params.os) {
     case OSLinux:
+        addSoname = true;
         args.push_back("-lrt");
         // fallthrough
     case OSMacOSX:
         args.push_back("-ldl");
         // fallthrough
     case OSFreeBSD:
+        addSoname = true;
         args.push_back("-lpthread");
         args.push_back("-lm");
         break;
@@ -345,6 +346,16 @@ int linkObjToBinary(bool sharedLib)
         // Assume 32-bit?
         args.push_back("-m32");
 
+    OutBuffer buf;
+    if (opts::createSharedLib && addSoname) {
+        std::string soname = opts::soname.getNumOccurrences() == 0 ? output : opts::soname;
+        if (!soname.empty()) {
+            buf.writestring("-Wl,-soname,");
+            buf.writestring(soname.c_str());
+            args.push_back(buf.toChars());
+        }
+    }
+
     // print link command?
     if (!quiet || global.params.verbose)
     {
diff --git a/gen/main.cpp b/gen/main.cpp
index 056187e8..bacdbca3 100644
--- a/gen/main.cpp
+++ b/gen/main.cpp
@@ -419,6 +419,11 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
         }
     }
 
+    if (soname.getNumOccurrences() > 0 && !createSharedLib) {
+        error("-soname can be used only when building a shared library");
+        fatal();
+    }
+
     // create a proper target
     Ir ir;