diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/meson/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/meson/default.nix
index 27aa38cfa7e..23b6f7226a1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/meson/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/meson/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, python3Packages, stdenv, targetPlatform, writeTextDir, m4 }: let
+{ lib, python3Packages, stdenv, targetPlatform, writeTextDir, substituteAll }: let
   targetPrefix = lib.optionalString stdenv.isCross
                    (targetPlatform.config + "-");
 in python3Packages.buildPythonApplication rec {
@@ -27,11 +27,17 @@ in python3Packages.buildPythonApplication rec {
     # We patch Meson to add a --fallback-library-path argument with
     # library install_dir to g-ir-scanner.
     ./gir-fallback-path.patch
-  ];
 
-  postPatch = ''
-    sed -i -e 's|e.fix_rpath(install_rpath)||' mesonbuild/scripts/meson_install.py
-  '';
+    # In common distributions, RPATH is only needed for internal libraries so
+    # meson removes everything else. With Nix, the locations of libraries
+    # are not as predictable, therefore we need to keep them in the RPATH.
+    # At the moment we are keeping the paths starting with /nix/store.
+    # https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/31222#issuecomment-365811634
+    (substituteAll {
+      src = ./fix-rpath.patch;
+      inherit (builtins) storeDir;
+    })
+  ];
 
   setupHook = ./setup-hook.sh;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/meson/fix-rpath.patch b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/meson/fix-rpath.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e52428a7db2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/meson/fix-rpath.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+--- a/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
++++ b/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
+@@ -846,8 +848,10 @@
+             if paths != '':
+                 paths += ':'
+             paths += build_rpath
+-        if len(paths) < len(install_rpath):
+-            padding = 'X' * (len(install_rpath) - len(paths))
++        store_paths = ':'.join(filter(lambda path: path.startswith('@storeDir@'), paths.split(':')))
++        extra_space_needed = len(install_rpath + (':' if install_rpath and store_paths else '') + store_paths) - len(paths)
++        if extra_space_needed > 0:
++            padding = 'X' * extra_space_needed
+             if not paths:
+                 paths = padding
+             else:
+--- a/mesonbuild/scripts/depfixer.py
++++ b/mesonbuild/scripts/depfixer.py
+@@ -300,6 +300,14 @@
+             return
+         self.bf.seek(rp_off)
+         old_rpath = self.read_str()
++
++        if new_rpath:
++            new_rpath += b':'
++        else:
++            new_rpath = b''
++
++        new_rpath += b':'.join(filter(lambda path: path.startswith(b'@storeDir@'), old_rpath.split(b':')))
++
+         if len(old_rpath) < len(new_rpath):
+             sys.exit("New rpath must not be longer than the old one.")
+         # The linker does read-only string deduplication. If there is a