diff --git a/lmdb.changes b/lmdb.changes
index 9ddaa14..f855865 100644
--- a/lmdb.changes
+++ b/lmdb.changes
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fri Oct 13 13:45:42 UTC 2017 - dmueller@suse.com
+
+- add soname-configurable.patch: Actually set the soname in the
+  shared library rather than just renaming the files on disk post
+  install (which does not actually do anything)
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Sun Jun 19 01:07:37 UTC 2016 - stefan.bruens@rwth-aachen.de
 
diff --git a/lmdb.spec b/lmdb.spec
index 2c27212..1ee1b06 100644
--- a/lmdb.spec
+++ b/lmdb.spec
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #
 # spec file for package lmdb
 #
-# Copyright (c) 2016 SUSE LINUX GmbH, Nuernberg, Germany.
+# Copyright (c) 2017 SUSE LINUX GmbH, Nuernberg, Germany.
 #
 # All modifications and additions to the file contributed by third parties
 # remain the property of their copyright owners, unless otherwise agreed
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ Patch1:         0001-Add-extra-tools-and-CFEngine-modifications-for-LMDB.patch
 Patch2:         0002-Autoconf-files.patch
 # PATCH-FIX-OPENSUSE - Implicit declaration of atol()
 Patch3:         liblmdb-implicit-decl.patch
+Patch4:         soname-configurable.patch
 
 BuildRoot:      %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-build
 BuildRequires:  autoconf
@@ -87,6 +88,8 @@ the liblmdb library.
 %patch1 -p1
 %patch2 -p1
 %patch3 -p1
+%patch4 -p1
+sed -i -e 's,__VERSION__,%version,' libraries/liblmdb/Makefile.am
 
 %build
 cd libraries/liblmdb
@@ -99,7 +102,6 @@ make %{?_smp_mflags} V=1
 cd libraries/liblmdb
 make install DESTDIR="%buildroot"
 rm -f "%buildroot/%_libdir"/*.la
-(cd %buildroot/%_libdir; mv liblmdb.so liblmdb-%version.so; ln -s liblmdb-%version.so liblmdb.so)
 
 %post   -n %lname -p /sbin/ldconfig
 %postun -n %lname -p /sbin/ldconfig
diff --git a/soname-configurable.patch b/soname-configurable.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87a8af8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/soname-configurable.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+Index: lmdb-LMDB_0.9.17/libraries/liblmdb/Makefile.am
+===================================================================
+--- lmdb-LMDB_0.9.17.orig/libraries/liblmdb/Makefile.am
++++ lmdb-LMDB_0.9.17/libraries/liblmdb/Makefile.am
+@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
+ lib_LTLIBRARIES = liblmdb.la
+ liblmdb_la_SOURCES = mdb.c midl.c
+-liblmdb_la_LDFLAGS=-no-undefined -avoid-version
++liblmdb_la_LDFLAGS = -no-undefined -release __VERSION__
+ 
+ bin_PROGRAMS = mdb_stat mdb_copy mdb_load mdb_dump lmdump lmmgr
+ mdb_stat_LDADD = liblmdb.la