diff --git a/cpython-unix/build-cpython.sh b/cpython-unix/build-cpython.sh
index 73fb8c451..4487e5d6d 100755
--- a/cpython-unix/build-cpython.sh
+++ b/cpython-unix/build-cpython.sh
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ if [[ "${PYBUILD_PLATFORM}" != macos* ]]; then
     else
         patch -p1 -i "${ROOT}/patch-python-configure-add-enable-static-libpython-for-interpreter-${PYTHON_MAJMIN_VERSION}.patch"
     fi
-    CONFIGURE_FLAGS="${CONFIGURE_FLAGS} --enable-static-libpython-for-interpreter"
+    #CONFIGURE_FLAGS="${CONFIGURE_FLAGS} --enable-static-libpython-for-interpreter"
 fi
 
 if [ "${CC}" = "musl-clang" ]; then
@@ -688,105 +688,45 @@ if [ "${PYBUILD_SHARED}" = "1" ]; then
                 -change /install/lib/${LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME} @executable_path/../lib/${LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME} \
                 ${ROOT}/out/python/install/bin/python${PYTHON_MAJMIN_VERSION}${PYTHON_BINARY_SUFFIX}
         fi
-    else # (not macos)
+    else
         LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME=libpython${PYTHON_MAJMIN_VERSION}${PYTHON_BINARY_SUFFIX}.so.1.0
         LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY=${ROOT}/out/python/install/lib/${LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME}
 
-        # Although we are statically linking libpython, some extension
-        # modules link against libpython.so even though they are not
-        # supposed to do that. If you try to import them on an
-        # interpreter statically linking libpython, all the symbols they
-        # need are resolved from the main program (because neither glibc
-        # nor musl has two-level namespaces), so there is hopefully no
-        # correctness risk, but they need to be able to successfully
-        # find libpython.so in order to load the module.  To allow such
-        # extensions to load, we set an rpath to point at our lib
-        # directory, so that if anyone ever tries to find a libpython,
-        # they successfully find one. See
-        # https://github.com/astral-sh/python-build-standalone/issues/619
-        # for some reports of extensions that need this workaround.
-        #
-        # Note that this matches the behavior of Debian/Ubuntu/etc.'s
-        # interpreter (if package libpython3.x is installed, which it
-        # usually is thanks to gdb, vim, etc.), because libpython is in
-        # the system lib directory, as well as the behavior in practice
-        # on conda-forge miniconda and probably other Conda-family
-        # Python distributions, which too set an rpath.
-        #
-        # There is a downside of making this libpython locatable: some user
-        # code might do e.g.
-        #     ctypes.CDLL(f"libpython3.{sys.version_info.minor}.so.1.0")
-        # to get at things in the CPython API not exposed to pure
-        # Python. This code may _silently misbehave_ on a
-        # static-libpython interpreter, because you are actually using
-        # the second copy of libpython. For loading static data or using
-        # accessors, you might get lucky and things will work, with the
-        # full set of dangers of C undefined behavior being possible.
-        # However, there are a few reasons we think this risk is
-        # tolerable.  First, we can't actually fix it by not setting the
-        # rpath - user code may well find a system libpython3.x.so or
-        # something which is even more likely to break. Second, this
-        # exact problem happens with Debian, Conda, etc., so it is very
-        # unlikely (compared to the extension modules case above) that
-        # any widely-used code has this problem; the risk is largely
-        # backwards incompatibility of our own builds. Also, it's quite
-        # easy for users to fix: simply do
-        #    ctypes.CDLL(None)
-        # (i.e., dlopen(NULL)), to use symbols already in the process;
-        # this will work reliably on all interpreters regardless of
-        # whether they statically or dynamically link libpython. Finally,
-        # we can (and should, at some point) add a warning, error, or
-        # silent fix to ctypes for user code that does this, which will
-        # also cover the case of other libpython3.x.so files on the
-        # library search path that we cannot suppress.
-        #
-        # In the past, when we dynamically linked libpython, we avoided
-        # using an rpath and instead used a DT_NEEDED entry with
-        # $ORIGIN/../lib/libpython.so, because LD_LIBRARY_PATH takes
-        # precedence over DT_RUNPATH, and it's not uncommon to have an
-        # LD_LIBRARY_PATH that points to some sort of unwanted libpython
-        # (e.g., actions/setup-python does this as of May 2025).
-        # Now, though, because we're not actually using code from the
-        # libpython that's loaded and just need _any_ file of that name
-        # to satisfy the link, that's not a problem. (This also implies
-        # another approach to the problem: ensure that libraries find an
-        # empty dummy libpython.so, which allows the link to succeed but
-        # ensures they do not use any unwanted symbols. That might be
-        # worth doing at some point.)
-        patchelf --set-rpath "\$ORIGIN/../lib" \
-            ${ROOT}/out/python/install/bin/python${PYTHON_MAJMIN_VERSION}
-
-        if [ -n "${PYTHON_BINARY_SUFFIX}" ]; then
+        if [ "${CC}" == "musl-clang" ]; then
+            # musl does not support $ORIGIN in DT_NEEDED, so we use RPATH instead. This could be
+            # problematic, i.e., we could load the shared library from the wrong location if
+            # `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` is set, but there's not a clear alternative at this time. The
+            # long term solution is probably to statically link to libpython instead.
             patchelf --set-rpath "\$ORIGIN/../lib" \
-                ${ROOT}/out/python/install/bin/python${PYTHON_MAJMIN_VERSION}${PYTHON_BINARY_SUFFIX}
-        fi
+                ${ROOT}/out/python/install/bin/python${PYTHON_MAJMIN_VERSION}
 
-        # For libpython3.so (the ABI3 library for embedders), we do
-        # still dynamically link libpython3.x.so.1.0 (the
-        # version-specific library), because there is no particular
-        # speedup/benefit in statically linking libpython into
-        # libpython3.so, and we'd just be shipping a third copy of the
-        # libpython code. Therefore we use the old logic for that and
-        # set an $ORIGIN-relative DT_NEEDED, at least for glibc.
-        # Unfortunately, musl does not (as of May 2025) support $ORIGIN
-        # in DT_NEEDED, only in DT_RUNPATH/RPATH, so we did set an rpath
-        # for bin/python3, and still do for libpython3.so. In both
-        # cases, we have no concerns/need no workarounds for code
-        # referencing libpython3.x.so.1.0, because we are actually
-        # dynamically linking it and so all code will get the real
-        # libpython3.x.so.1.0 that they want.
-        if [ "${CC}" == "musl-clang" ]; then
             # libpython3.so isn't present in debug builds.
             if [ -z "${CPYTHON_DEBUG}" ]; then
                 patchelf --set-rpath "\$ORIGIN/../lib" \
                     ${ROOT}/out/python/install/lib/libpython3.so
             fi
+
+            if [ -n "${PYTHON_BINARY_SUFFIX}" ]; then
+                patchelf --set-rpath "\$ORIGIN/../lib" \
+                    ${ROOT}/out/python/install/bin/python${PYTHON_MAJMIN_VERSION}${PYTHON_BINARY_SUFFIX}
+            fi
         else
+            # If we simply set DT_RUNPATH via --set-rpath, LD_LIBRARY_PATH would be used before
+            # DT_RUNPATH, which could result in confusion at run-time. But if DT_NEEDED contains a
+            # slash, the explicit path is used.
+            patchelf --replace-needed ${LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME} "\$ORIGIN/../lib/${LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME}" \
+                ${ROOT}/out/python/install/bin/python${PYTHON_MAJMIN_VERSION}
+
             # libpython3.so isn't present in debug builds.
             if [ -z "${CPYTHON_DEBUG}" ]; then
                 patchelf --replace-needed ${LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME} "\$ORIGIN/../lib/${LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME}" \
                     ${ROOT}/out/python/install/lib/libpython3.so
             fi
+
+            if [ -n "${PYTHON_BINARY_SUFFIX}" ]; then
+                patchelf --replace-needed ${LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME} "\$ORIGIN/../lib/${LIBPYTHON_SHARED_LIBRARY_BASENAME}" \
+                    ${ROOT}/out/python/install/bin/python${PYTHON_MAJMIN_VERSION}${PYTHON_BINARY_SUFFIX}
+            fi
         fi
     fi
 fi