diff --git a/Makefile.rules b/Makefile.rules
index 52c65a5f1f..ad89e5b63b 100644
--- a/Makefile.rules
+++ b/Makefile.rules
@@ -506,13 +506,8 @@ build/main.c: src/main.c
 	@cat $< >> $@
 
 # build rule for the gap executable used by the `install-bin` target
-#
-# we add the -Wl,-rpath,$(libdir) to make it work on Linux when installed in a
-# non-system prefix (as we do for our tests), where $(libdir) is not in one of
-# the default linker search directories. An alternative might be to set
-# LD_LIBRARY_PATH during our tests...
 build/gap-install: libgap$(SHLIB_EXT) cnf/GAP-LDFLAGS cnf/GAP-LIBS cnf/GAP-OBJS build/obj/build/main.c.o
-	$(QUIET_LINK)$(LINK) $(GAP_LDFLAGS) build/obj/build/main.c.o $(GAP_LIBS) -Wl,-rpath,$(libdir) -L${abs_builddir} -lgap -o $@
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(LINK) $(GAP_LDFLAGS) build/obj/build/main.c.o $(GAP_LIBS) -L${abs_builddir} -lgap -o $@
 
 endif
 
diff --git a/dev/ci.sh b/dev/ci.sh
index e0174df0a1..23be355ef4 100755
--- a/dev/ci.sh
+++ b/dev/ci.sh
@@ -317,6 +317,10 @@ GAPInput
     # HACK: symlink packages so we can start GAP
     ln -s $SRCDIR/pkg $GAPPREFIX/share/gap/pkg
 
+    # ensure the dynamic linker finds the install libgap in our custom prefix
+    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$GAPPREFIX/lib"
+    export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH="$GAPPREFIX/lib"
+
     # test building and loading package kernel extension
     testmockpkg "$GAPPREFIX/bin/gap" "$GAPPREFIX/lib/gap" "$SRCDIR/tst/mockpkg"