diff --git a/hack/PACKAGERS.md b/hack/PACKAGERS.md
index 57ec45fd81..11d4698f3e 100644
--- a/hack/PACKAGERS.md
+++ b/hack/PACKAGERS.md
@@ -90,6 +90,16 @@ You would do the users of your distro a disservice and "void the docker warranty
 A good comparison is Busybox: all distros package it as a statically linked binary, because it just
 makes sense. Docker is the same way.
 
+If you *must* have a non-static Docker binary, please use:
+
+```bash
+./hack/make.sh dynbinary
+```
+
+This will create *./bundles/$VERSION/dynbinary/docker-$VERSION* and *./bundles/$VERSION/binary/dockerinit-$VERSION*.
+The first of these would usually be installed at */usr/bin/docker*, while the second must be installed
+at */usr/libexec/docker/dockerinit*.
+
 ## Testing Docker
 
 Before releasing your binary, make sure to run the tests! Run the following command with the source
diff --git a/hack/make.sh b/hack/make.sh
index dd2a96945c..7e81417e46 100755
--- a/hack/make.sh
+++ b/hack/make.sh
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ grep -q "$RESOLVCONF" /proc/mounts || {
 DEFAULT_BUNDLES=(
 	binary
 	test
+	dynbinary
+	dyntest
 	ubuntu
 )
 
@@ -46,6 +48,7 @@ fi
 
 # Use these flags when compiling the tests and final binary
 LDFLAGS='-X main.GITCOMMIT "'$GITCOMMIT'" -X main.VERSION "'$VERSION'" -w'
+LDFLAGS_STATIC='-X github.com/dotcloud/docker/utils.IAMSTATIC true -linkmode external -extldflags "-lpthread -static -Wl,--unresolved-symbols=ignore-in-object-files"'
 BUILDFLAGS='-tags netgo'
 
 bundle() {
diff --git a/hack/make/binary b/hack/make/binary
index 4bc0effc43..6363c2ab09 100644
--- a/hack/make/binary
+++ b/hack/make/binary
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 
 DEST=$1
 
-go build -o $DEST/docker-$VERSION -ldflags "$LDFLAGS -linkmode external -extldflags \"-lpthread -static -Wl,--unresolved-symbols=ignore-in-object-files\"" $BUILDFLAGS ./docker
+go build -o $DEST/docker-$VERSION -ldflags "$LDFLAGS $LDFLAGS_STATIC" $BUILDFLAGS ./docker
 echo "Created binary: $DEST/docker-$VERSION"
diff --git a/hack/make/dynbinary b/hack/make/dynbinary
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e630c94f53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/make/dynbinary
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+DEST=$1
+
+# dockerinit still needs to be a static binary, even if docker is dynamic
+CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -a -o $DEST/dockerinit-$VERSION -ldflags "$LDFLAGS -d" $BUILDFLAGS ./dockerinit
+echo "Created binary: $DEST/dockerinit-$VERSION"
+ln -sf dockerinit-$VERSION $DEST/dockerinit
+
+# sha1 our new dockerinit to ensure separate docker and dockerinit always run in a perfect pair compiled for one another
+export DOCKER_INITSHA1="$(sha1sum $DEST/dockerinit-$VERSION | cut -d' ' -f1)"
+# exported so that "dyntest" can easily access it later without recalculating it
+
+go build -o $DEST/docker-$VERSION -ldflags "$LDFLAGS -X github.com/dotcloud/docker/utils.INITSHA1 \"$DOCKER_INITSHA1\"" $BUILDFLAGS ./docker
+echo "Created binary: $DEST/docker-$VERSION"
diff --git a/hack/make/dyntest b/hack/make/dyntest
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..848ed8b5cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/make/dyntest
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+DEST=$1
+INIT=$DEST/../dynbinary/dockerinit-$VERSION
+
+set -e
+
+if [ ! -x "$INIT" ]; then
+	echo >&2 'error: dynbinary must be run before dyntest'
+	false
+fi
+
+# Run Docker's test suite, including sub-packages, and store their output as a bundle
+# If $TESTFLAGS is set in the environment, it is passed as extra arguments to 'go test'.
+# You can use this to select certain tests to run, eg.
+# 
+# 	TESTFLAGS='-run ^TestBuild$' ./hack/make.sh test
+#
+bundle_test() {
+	{
+		date
+		for test_dir in $(find_test_dirs); do (
+			set -x
+			cd $test_dir
+			export TEST_DOCKERINIT_PATH=$DEST/../dynbinary/dockerinit-$VERSION
+			go test -v -ldflags "$LDFLAGS -X github.com/dotcloud/docker/utils.INITSHA1 \"$DOCKER_INITSHA1\"" $BUILDFLAGS
+		)  done
+	} 2>&1 | tee $DEST/test.log
+}
+
+
+# This helper function walks the current directory looking for directories
+# holding Go test files, and prints their paths on standard output, one per
+# line.
+find_test_dirs() {
+       find . -name '*_test.go' | grep -v '^./vendor' |
+               { while read f; do dirname $f; done; } |
+               sort -u
+}
+
+bundle_test
diff --git a/hack/make/test b/hack/make/test
index eab131f71d..f905fa14a5 100644
--- a/hack/make/test
+++ b/hack/make/test
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ bundle_test() {
 			set -x
 			cd $test_dir
 			go test -i
-			go test -v -ldflags "$LDFLAGS -linkmode external -extldflags \"-lpthread -static -Wl,--unresolved-symbols=ignore-in-object-files\"" $BUILDFLAGS $TESTFLAGS
+			go test -v -ldflags "$LDFLAGS $LDFLAGS_STATIC" $BUILDFLAGS $TESTFLAGS
 		)  done
 	} 2>&1 | tee $DEST/test.log
 }
diff --git a/runtime.go b/runtime.go
index 25f378bfb6..0a492cd77e 100644
--- a/runtime.go
+++ b/runtime.go
@@ -38,12 +38,6 @@ type Runtime struct {
 	containerGraph *gograph.Database
 }
 
-var sysInitPath string
-
-func init() {
-	sysInitPath = utils.SelfPath()
-}
-
 // List returns an array of all containers registered in the runtime.
 func (runtime *Runtime) List() []*Container {
 	containers := new(History)
@@ -335,6 +329,11 @@ func (runtime *Runtime) Create(config *Config) (*Container, []string, error) {
 		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("No command specified")
 	}
 
+	sysInitPath := utils.DockerInitPath()
+	if sysInitPath == "" {
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("Could not locate dockerinit: This usually means docker was built incorrectly. See http://docs.docker.io/en/latest/contributing/devenvironment for official build instructions.")
+	}
+
 	// Generate id
 	id := GenerateID()
 
diff --git a/runtime_test.go b/runtime_test.go
index e042ae6e81..0aa2d3d543 100644
--- a/runtime_test.go
+++ b/runtime_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"net"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -86,6 +87,25 @@ func init() {
 		log.Fatal("docker tests need to be run as root")
 	}
 
+	// Copy dockerinit into our current testing directory, if provided (so we can test a separate dockerinit binary)
+	if dockerinit := os.Getenv("TEST_DOCKERINIT_PATH"); dockerinit != "" {
+		src, err := os.Open(dockerinit)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Fatalf("Unable to open TEST_DOCKERINIT_PATH: %s\n", err)
+		}
+		defer src.Close()
+		dst, err := os.OpenFile(filepath.Join(filepath.Dir(utils.SelfPath()), "dockerinit"), os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE|os.O_TRUNC, 0555)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Fatalf("Unable to create dockerinit in test directory: %s\n", err)
+		}
+		defer dst.Close()
+		if _, err := io.Copy(dst, src); err != nil {
+			log.Fatalf("Unable to copy dockerinit to TEST_DOCKERINIT_PATH: %s\n", err)
+		}
+		dst.Close()
+		src.Close()
+	}
+
 	// Setup the base runtime, which will be duplicated for each test.
 	// (no tests are run directly in the base)
 	setupBaseImage()
diff --git a/utils/utils.go b/utils/utils.go
index 3bf2cf05be..d53094397f 100644
--- a/utils/utils.go
+++ b/utils/utils.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package utils
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"crypto/sha1"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
@@ -21,6 +22,11 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
+var (
+	IAMSTATIC bool   // whether or not Docker itself was compiled statically via ./hack/make.sh binary
+	INITSHA1  string // sha1sum of separate static dockerinit, if Docker itself was compiled dynamically via ./hack/make.sh dynbinary
+)
+
 // ListOpts type
 type ListOpts []string
 
@@ -190,6 +196,67 @@ func SelfPath() string {
 	return path
 }
 
+func dockerInitSha1(target string) string {
+	f, err := os.Open(target)
+	if err != nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	h := sha1.New()
+	_, err = io.Copy(h, f)
+	if err != nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return hex.EncodeToString(h.Sum(nil))
+}
+
+func isValidDockerInitPath(target string, selfPath string) bool { // target and selfPath should be absolute (InitPath and SelfPath already do this)
+	if IAMSTATIC {
+		if target == selfPath {
+			return true
+		}
+		targetFileInfo, err := os.Lstat(target)
+		if err != nil {
+			return false
+		}
+		selfPathFileInfo, err := os.Lstat(selfPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			return false
+		}
+		return os.SameFile(targetFileInfo, selfPathFileInfo)
+	}
+	return INITSHA1 != "" && dockerInitSha1(target) == INITSHA1
+}
+
+// Figure out the path of our dockerinit (which may be SelfPath())
+func DockerInitPath() string {
+	selfPath := SelfPath()
+	if isValidDockerInitPath(selfPath, selfPath) {
+		// if we're valid, don't bother checking anything else
+		return selfPath
+	}
+	var possibleInits = []string{
+		filepath.Join(filepath.Dir(selfPath), "dockerinit"),
+		// "/usr/libexec includes internal binaries that are not intended to be executed directly by users or shell scripts. Applications may use a single subdirectory under /usr/libexec."
+		"/usr/libexec/docker/dockerinit",
+		"/usr/local/libexec/docker/dockerinit",
+	}
+	for _, dockerInit := range possibleInits {
+		path, err := exec.LookPath(dockerInit)
+		if err == nil {
+			path, err = filepath.Abs(path)
+			if err != nil {
+				// LookPath already validated that this file exists and is executable (following symlinks), so how could Abs fail?
+				panic(err)
+			}
+			if isValidDockerInitPath(path, selfPath) {
+				return path
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
 type NopWriter struct{}
 
 func (*NopWriter) Write(buf []byte) (int, error) {