diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 096480befa..b3ffbe2407 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -119,6 +119,23 @@ version.o: $(SRC_PATH)/version.rc config-host.mak
 
 version-obj-$(CONFIG_WIN32) += version.o
 ######################################################################
+# Support building shared library libcacard
+
+.PHONY: libcacard.la install-libcacard
+ifeq ($(LIBTOOL),)
+libcacard.la:
+	@echo "libtool is missing, please install and rerun configure"; exit 1
+
+install-libcacard:
+	@echo "libtool is missing, please install and rerun configure"; exit 1
+else
+libcacard.la: $(GENERATED_HEADERS) $(oslib-obj-y) qemu-malloc.o qemu-timer-common.o $(addsuffix .lo, $(basename $(trace-obj-y)))
+	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) -C libcacard V="$(V)" TARGET_DIR="$*/" libcacard.la,)
+
+install-libcacard: libcacard.la
+	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) -C libcacard V="$(V)" TARGET_DIR="$*/" install-libcacard,)
+endif
+######################################################################
 
 qemu-img.o: qemu-img-cmds.h
 qemu-img.o qemu-tool.o qemu-nbd.o qemu-io.o cmd.o: $(GENERATED_HEADERS)
@@ -149,7 +166,8 @@ clean:
 # avoid old build problems by removing potentially incorrect old files
 	rm -f config.mak op-i386.h opc-i386.h gen-op-i386.h op-arm.h opc-arm.h gen-op-arm.h
 	rm -f qemu-options.def
-	rm -f *.o *.d *.a $(TOOLS) TAGS cscope.* *.pod *~ */*~
+	rm -f *.o *.d *.a *.lo $(TOOLS) TAGS cscope.* *.pod *~ */*~
+	rm -Rf .libs
 	rm -f slirp/*.o slirp/*.d audio/*.o audio/*.d block/*.o block/*.d net/*.o net/*.d fsdev/*.o fsdev/*.d ui/*.o ui/*.d
 	rm -f qemu-img-cmds.h
 	rm -f trace.c trace.h trace.c-timestamp trace.h-timestamp
diff --git a/Makefile.objs b/Makefile.objs
index 52d8b23045..f617ed5b7e 100644
--- a/Makefile.objs
+++ b/Makefile.objs
@@ -347,6 +347,14 @@ trace-dtrace.dtrace-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/trace-events config-host.mak
 trace-dtrace.o: trace-dtrace.dtrace $(GENERATED_HEADERS)
 	$(call quiet-command,dtrace -o $@ -G -s $<, "  GEN trace-dtrace.o")
 
+ifeq ($(LIBTOOL),)
+trace-dtrace.lo: trace-dtrace.dtrace
+	@echo "missing libtool. please install and rerun configure."; exit 1
+else
+trace-dtrace.lo: trace-dtrace.dtrace
+	$(call quiet-command,libtool --mode=compile --tag=CC dtrace -o $@ -G -s $<, "  lt GEN trace-dtrace.o")
+endif
+
 simpletrace.o: simpletrace.c $(GENERATED_HEADERS)
 
 ifeq ($(TRACE_BACKEND),dtrace)
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 767c3831f4..a6e9d1c85a 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1279,6 +1279,15 @@ if ! has $pkg_config; then
   pkg_config=/bin/false
 fi
 
+##########################################
+# libtool probe
+
+if ! has libtool; then
+    libtool=
+else
+    libtool=libtool
+fi
+
 ##########################################
 # Sparse probe
 if test "$sparse" != "no" ; then
@@ -3047,6 +3056,7 @@ echo "AR=$ar" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "OBJCOPY=$objcopy" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LD=$ld" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "WINDRES=$windres" >> $config_host_mak
+echo "LIBTOOL=$libtool" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "CFLAGS=$CFLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "QEMU_CFLAGS=$QEMU_CFLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "QEMU_INCLUDES=$QEMU_INCLUDES" >> $config_host_mak
@@ -3580,7 +3590,7 @@ if [ "$source_path" != `pwd` ]; then
     # out of tree build
     mkdir -p libcacard
     rm -f libcacard/Makefile
-    ln -s "$source_path/libcacard/Makefile" libcacard/Makefile
+    symlink "$source_path/libcacard/Makefile" libcacard/Makefile
 fi
 
 d=libuser
diff --git a/libcacard/Makefile b/libcacard/Makefile
index 1d34df0004..9802c37ee8 100644
--- a/libcacard/Makefile
+++ b/libcacard/Makefile
@@ -4,15 +4,39 @@
 
 $(call set-vpath, $(SRC_PATH):$(SRC_PATH)/libcacard)
 
-QEMU_OBJS=$(addprefix ../, $(oslib-obj-y) $(trace-obj-y) qemu-malloc.o qemu-timer-common.o)
+# objects linked against normal qemu binaries, not compiled with libtool
+QEMU_OBJS=$(addprefix ../,$(oslib-obj-y) qemu-malloc.o qemu-timer-common.o $(trace-obj-y))
+
+# objects linked into a shared library, built with libtool with -fPIC if required
+QEMU_OBJS_LIB=$(addsuffix .lo,$(basename $(QEMU_OBJS)))
 
 QEMU_CFLAGS+=-I../
 
+libcacard.lib-y=$(addsuffix .lo,$(basename $(libcacard-y)))
+
 vscclient: $(libcacard-y) $(QEMU_OBJS) vscclient.o
-	$(call quiet-command,$(CC) $(libcacard_libs) -lrt -o $@ $^,"  LINK  $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,$(CC) $(libcacard_libs) -lrt -o $@ $^,"  LINK  $@")
+
+clean:
+	rm -f *.o */*.o *.d */*.d *.a */*.a *~ */*~ vscclient *.lo .libs/* *.la
+	rm -Rf .libs
 
 all: vscclient
 
-clean:
-	rm -f *.o */*.o *.d */*.d *.a */*.a *~ */*~ vscclient
+#########################################################################
+# Rules for building libcacard standalone library
 
+ifeq ($(LIBTOOL),)
+libcacard.la:
+	@echo "libtool is missing, please install and rerun configure"; exit 1
+
+install-libcacard:
+	@echo "libtool is missing, please install and rerun configure"; exit 1
+else
+libcacard.la: $(libcacard.lib-y) $(QEMU_OBJS_LIB)
+	$(call quiet-command,libtool --mode=link --quiet --tag=CC $(CC) $(libcacard_libs) -lrt -rpath $(libdir) -o $@ $^,"  lt LINK $@")
+
+install-libcacard: libcacard.la
+	$(INSTALL_DIR) "$(DESTDIR)$(libdir)"
+	libtool --mode=install $(INSTALL_PROG) libcacard.la "$(DESTDIR)$(libdir)"
+endif
diff --git a/rules.mak b/rules.mak
index ed59c9e82b..612ae37093 100644
--- a/rules.mak
+++ b/rules.mak
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@ QEMU_DGFLAGS += -MMD -MP -MT $@ -MF $(*D)/$(*F).d
 %.o: %.c
 	$(call quiet-command,$(CC) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<,"  CC    $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
+ifeq ($(LIBTOOL),)
+%.lo: %.c
+	@echo "missing libtool. please install and rerun configure"; exit 1
+else
+%.lo: %.c
+	$(call quiet-command,libtool --mode=compile --quiet --tag=CC $(CC) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<,"  lt CC $@")
+endif
+
 %.o: %.S
 	$(call quiet-command,$(CC) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<,"  AS    $(TARGET_DIR)$@")