diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index f3b5cd2b18..192a378638 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ XML_EXAMPLES = \
 					test/*.xml storage/*.xml)))
 
 EXTRA_DIST = \
+  config-post.h \
   ChangeLog-old \
   libvirt.spec libvirt.spec.in \
   mingw-libvirt.spec.in \
diff --git a/config-post.h b/config-post.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d371e8c6cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config-post.h
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2013 Red Hat, Inc.
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ * version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License along with this library.  If not, see
+ * <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+/*
+ * Since virt-login-shell will be setuid, we must do everything
+ * we can to avoid linking to other libraries. Many of them do
+ * unsafe things in functions marked __atttribute__((constructor)).
+ * The only way avoid to avoid such deps is to re-compile the
+ * functions with the code in question disabled, and for that we
+ * must override the main config.h rules. Hence this file :-(
+ */
+
+#ifdef LIBVIRT_SETUID_RPC_CLIENT
+# undef HAVE_LIBDEVMAPPER_H
+# undef HAVE_LIBNL
+# undef HAVE_LIBNL3
+# undef HAVE_LIBSASL2
+# undef WITH_CAPNG
+# undef WITH_CURL
+# undef WITH_DTRACE_PROBES
+# undef WITH_GNUTLS
+# undef WITH_MACVTAP
+# undef WITH_NUMACTL
+# undef WITH_SASL
+# undef WITH_SSH2
+# undef WITH_VIRTUALPORT
+# undef WITH_YAJL
+# undef WITH_YAJL2
+#endif
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1993fab9b8..1c5b168d00 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ AC_INIT([libvirt], [1.1.3], [libvir-list@redhat.com], [], [http://libvirt.org])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/libvirt.c])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([build-aux])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
+AH_BOTTOM([#include <config-post.h>])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 dnl Make automake keep quiet about wildcards & other GNUmake-isms; also keep
 dnl quiet about the fact that we intentionally cater to automake 1.9
diff --git a/daemon/Makefile.am b/daemon/Makefile.am
index 46c766c003..e5c5db82cd 100644
--- a/daemon/Makefile.am
+++ b/daemon/Makefile.am
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 INCLUDES = \
 	-I$(top_builddir)/gnulib/lib -I$(top_srcdir)/gnulib/lib \
+	-I$(top_srcdir) \
 	-I$(top_builddir)/include -I$(top_srcdir)/include \
 	-I$(top_builddir)/src -I$(top_srcdir)/src \
 	-I$(top_srcdir)/src/util \
diff --git a/examples/domain-events/events-c/Makefile.am b/examples/domain-events/events-c/Makefile.am
index 0646aee7c7..86500a0ead 100644
--- a/examples/domain-events/events-c/Makefile.am
+++ b/examples/domain-events/events-c/Makefile.am
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
 ## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 INCLUDES = -I$(top_builddir)/include -I$(top_srcdir)/include \
-	   -I$(top_builddir)/gnulib/lib -I$(top_srcdir)/gnulib/lib
+	   -I$(top_builddir)/gnulib/lib -I$(top_srcdir)/gnulib/lib \
+	   -I$(top_srcdir)
 noinst_PROGRAMS = event-test
 event_test_CFLAGS = $(WARN_CFLAGS)
 event_test_SOURCES = event-test.c
diff --git a/examples/hellolibvirt/Makefile.am b/examples/hellolibvirt/Makefile.am
index 060cc71a94..55ea972c42 100644
--- a/examples/hellolibvirt/Makefile.am
+++ b/examples/hellolibvirt/Makefile.am
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 ## License along with this library.  If not, see
 ## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-INCLUDES = -I$(top_builddir)/include -I$(top_srcdir)/include
+INCLUDES = -I$(top_builddir)/include -I$(top_srcdir)/include -I$(top_srcdir)
 noinst_PROGRAMS = hellolibvirt
 hellolibvirt_CFLAGS = $(WARN_CFLAGS)
 hellolibvirt_SOURCES = hellolibvirt.c
diff --git a/examples/openauth/Makefile.am b/examples/openauth/Makefile.am
index 1eb23fc9b4..7bb860491e 100644
--- a/examples/openauth/Makefile.am
+++ b/examples/openauth/Makefile.am
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 ## License along with this library.  If not, see
 ## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-INCLUDES = -I$(top_builddir)/include -I$(top_srcdir)/include
+INCLUDES = -I$(top_builddir)/include -I$(top_srcdir)/include -I$(top_srcdir)
 noinst_PROGRAMS = openauth
 openauth_CFLAGS = $(WARN_CFLAGS)
 openauth_SOURCES = openauth.c
diff --git a/gnulib/lib/Makefile.am b/gnulib/lib/Makefile.am
index e27c658eab..f098e823be 100644
--- a/gnulib/lib/Makefile.am
+++ b/gnulib/lib/Makefile.am
@@ -27,4 +27,4 @@ noinst_LTLIBRARIES =
 
 include gnulib.mk
 
-INCLUDES = $(GETTEXT_CPPFLAGS)
+INCLUDES = -I$(top_srcdir) $(GETTEXT_CPPFLAGS)
diff --git a/python/Makefile.am b/python/Makefile.am
index f32730097b..c9c2a8b0db 100644
--- a/python/Makefile.am
+++ b/python/Makefile.am
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ INCLUDES = \
 	$(PYTHON_INCLUDES) \
 	-I$(top_builddir)/gnulib/lib \
 	-I$(top_srcdir)/gnulib/lib \
+	-I$(top_srcdir) \
 	-I$(top_builddir)/src \
 	-I$(top_srcdir)/src \
 	-I$(top_srcdir)/src/util \
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index a9b6d587a4..9dab4df867 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 # that actually use them. Also keep GETTEXT_CPPFLAGS at the end.
 INCLUDES =	-I../gnulib/lib					\
 		-I$(top_srcdir)/gnulib/lib			\
+		-I$(top_srcdir)					\
 		-I../include					\
 		-I$(top_srcdir)/include				\
 		-I$(top_srcdir)/src/util			\
@@ -1966,6 +1967,77 @@ libvirt_lxc_la_LDFLAGS = \
 libvirt_lxc_la_CFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS)
 libvirt_lxc_la_LIBADD = libvirt.la $(CYGWIN_EXTRA_LIBADD)
 
+# Since virt-login-shell will be setuid, we must do everything
+# we can to avoid linking to other libraries. Many of them do
+# unsafe things in functions marked __atttribute__((constructor)).
+# This library is built to include the bare minimum required to
+# have a RPC client for local UNIX socket access only. We use
+# the ../config-post.h header to disable all external deps that
+# we don't want
+if WITH_LXC
+noinst_LTLIBRARIES += libvirt-setuid-rpc-client.la
+
+libvirt_setuid_rpc_client_la_SOURCES = 		\
+		util/viralloc.c			\
+		util/virbitmap.c		\
+		util/virbuffer.c		\
+		util/vircommand.c		\
+		util/virconf.c			\
+		util/virerror.c			\
+		util/virevent.c			\
+		util/vireventpoll.c		\
+		util/virfile.c			\
+		util/virhash.c			\
+		util/virhashcode.c		\
+		util/virjson.c			\
+		util/virlog.c			\
+		util/virobject.c		\
+		util/virpidfile.c		\
+		util/virprocess.c		\
+		util/virrandom.c		\
+		util/virsocketaddr.c		\
+		util/virstoragefile.c		\
+		util/virstring.c		\
+		util/virtime.c			\
+		util/virthread.c		\
+		util/virtypedparam.c		\
+		util/viruri.c			\
+		util/virutil.c			\
+		util/viruuid.c			\
+		conf/domain_event.c		\
+		rpc/virnetsocket.c		\
+		rpc/virnetsocket.h		\
+		rpc/virnetmessage.h		\
+		rpc/virnetmessage.c		\
+		rpc/virkeepalive.c		\
+		rpc/virkeepalive.h		\
+		rpc/virnetclient.c		\
+		rpc/virnetclientprogram.c	\
+		rpc/virnetclientstream.c	\
+		rpc/virnetprotocol.c		\
+		remote/remote_driver.c		\
+		remote/remote_protocol.c	\
+		remote/qemu_protocol.c		\
+		remote/lxc_protocol.c		\
+		datatypes.c			\
+		libvirt.c			\
+		libvirt-lxc.c			\
+		$(NULL)
+
+libvirt_setuid_rpc_client_la_LDFLAGS =		\
+		$(AM_LDFLAGS)			\
+		$(LIBXML_LIBS)			\
+		$(SELINUX_LIBS)			\
+		$(NULL)
+libvirt_setuid_rpc_client_la_CFLAGS =		\
+		-DLIBVIRT_SETUID_RPC_CLIENT	\
+		-I$(top_srcdir)/src/conf	\
+		-I$(top_srcdir)/src/rpc		\
+		$(AM_CFLAGS)			\
+		$(SELINUX_CFLAGS)		\
+		$(NULL)
+endif WITH_LXC
+
 lockdriverdir = $(libdir)/libvirt/lock-driver
 lockdriver_LTLIBRARIES =
 
diff --git a/src/libvirt.c b/src/libvirt.c
index 7fa675ac96..7ceec30cfc 100644
--- a/src/libvirt.c
+++ b/src/libvirt.c
@@ -445,41 +445,47 @@ virGlobalInit(void)
     if (!bindtextdomain(PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR))
         goto error;
 
+    /*
+     * Note we must avoid everything except 'remote' driver
+     * for virt-login-shell usage
+     */
+#ifndef LIBVIRT_SETUID_RPC_CLIENT
     /*
      * Note that the order is important: the first ones have a higher
      * priority when calling virConnectOpen.
      */
-#ifdef WITH_TEST
+# ifdef WITH_TEST
     if (testRegister() == -1)
         goto error;
-#endif
-#ifdef WITH_OPENVZ
+# endif
+# ifdef WITH_OPENVZ
     if (openvzRegister() == -1)
         goto error;
-#endif
-#ifdef WITH_VMWARE
+# endif
+# ifdef WITH_VMWARE
     if (vmwareRegister() == -1)
         goto error;
-#endif
-#ifdef WITH_PHYP
+# endif
+# ifdef WITH_PHYP
     if (phypRegister() == -1)
         goto error;
-#endif
-#ifdef WITH_ESX
+# endif
+# ifdef WITH_ESX
     if (esxRegister() == -1)
         goto error;
-#endif
-#ifdef WITH_HYPERV
+# endif
+# ifdef WITH_HYPERV
     if (hypervRegister() == -1)
         goto error;
-#endif
-#ifdef WITH_XENAPI
+# endif
+# ifdef WITH_XENAPI
     if (xenapiRegister() == -1)
         goto error;
-#endif
-#ifdef WITH_PARALLELS
+# endif
+# ifdef WITH_PARALLELS
     if (parallelsRegister() == -1)
         goto error;
+# endif
 #endif
 #ifdef WITH_REMOTE
     if (remoteRegister() == -1)
diff --git a/tools/Makefile.am b/tools/Makefile.am
index d8c912f2e4..256a8f37a2 100644
--- a/tools/Makefile.am
+++ b/tools/Makefile.am
@@ -153,6 +153,11 @@ virt_host_validate_CFLAGS = \
 		$(COVERAGE_CFLAGS)				\
 		$(NULL)
 
+# Since virt-login-shell will be setuid, we must do everything
+# we can to avoid linking to other libraries. Many of them do
+# unsafe things in functions marked __atttribute__((constructor)).
+# This we statically link to a library containing only the minimal
+# libvirt client code, not libvirt.so itself.
 virt_login_shell_SOURCES =					\
 		virt-login-shell.c
 
@@ -163,11 +168,11 @@ virt_login_shell_LDFLAGS = \
 virt_login_shell_LDADD =					\
 		$(STATIC_BINARIES)				\
 		$(PIE_LDFLAGS)					\
-		../src/libvirt.la				\
-		../src/libvirt-lxc.la				\
+		../src/libvirt-setuid-rpc-client.la		\
 		../gnulib/lib/libgnu.la
 
 virt_login_shell_CFLAGS =					\
+		-DLIBVIRT_SETUID_RPC_CLIENT			\
 		$(WARN_CFLAGS)					\
 		$(PIE_CFLAGS)					\
 		$(COVERAGE_CFLAGS)