diff --git a/sandbox/pqcrazyness/escaping.c b/sandbox/pqcrazyness/escaping.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..43116b5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sandbox/pqcrazyness/escaping.c
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <libpq-fe.h>
+
+/* Compile me with:
+ * 
+ *   gcc -p escaping -I$(pg_config --includedir) escaping.c -lpq"
+ *
+ * then:
+ *
+ *   ./escaping dbname=test foo\\\\bar
+*/
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
+{
+	PGconn* conn;
+	int rl, len;
+	char* result;
+
+	if (argc != 3) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s [dsn] [string]\n", argv[0]);
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	len = strlen(argv[1]);
+	result = malloc(len * 2 * sizeof(char));
+
+	rl = PQescapeString(result, argv[2], len);
+	result[rl] = '\0';
+	printf("%s\n", result);
+
+	conn = PQconnectdb(argv[1]);
+
+	rl = PQescapeString(result, argv[2], len);
+	result[rl] = '\0';
+	printf("%s\n", result);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 45b3b698..fbfff045 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -235,10 +235,12 @@ class psycopg_build_ext(build_ext):
          "Compile with OpenSSL built PostgreSQL libraries (Windows only)."),
         ('static-libpq', None,
          "Statically link the PostgreSQL client library"),
+        ('use-rpath', None,
+         "Set -rpath to the runtime location of libpq as given by pg_config")
     ])
 
     boolean_options = build_ext.boolean_options[:]
-    boolean_options.extend(('use-pydatetime', 'have-ssl', 'static-libpq'))
+    boolean_options.extend(('use-pydatetime', 'have-ssl', 'static-libpq', 'use-rpath'))
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         build_ext.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)
@@ -252,6 +254,7 @@ class psycopg_build_ext(build_ext):
         self.have_ssl = have_ssl
         self.static_libpq = static_libpq
         self.pg_config = None
+        self.use_rpath = 0
 
     def compiler_is_msvc(self):
         return self.get_compiler_name().lower().startswith('msvc')
@@ -391,6 +394,8 @@ class psycopg_build_ext(build_ext):
                     os.path.join(pg_config_helper.query("libdir"), "libpq.a"))
         else:
             self.libraries.append("pq")
+            if self.use_rpath: 
+                self.rpath = [pg_config_helper.query("libdir")]
 
         try:
             self.library_dirs.append(pg_config_helper.query("libdir"))
@@ -445,6 +450,13 @@ class psycopg_build_ext(build_ext):
         if hasattr(self, "finalize_" + sys.platform):
             getattr(self, "finalize_" + sys.platform)()
 
+    def build_extension(self, ext):
+        # HACK: runtime library dirs are correctly fixed by ccompiler only
+        # if ext.runtime_library_dirs is None, but the build_ext sets it
+        # to null.
+        ext.runtime_library_dirs = None
+        build_ext.build_extension(self, ext)
+
 def is_py_64():
     # sys.maxint not available since Py 3.1;
     # sys.maxsize not available before Py 2.6;