diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 99d70d0c326..78b47764a3b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -143,6 +143,12 @@ endif (UNIX)
 
 # many are core-specific
 
+# whether this build of DynamoRIO is meant for distribution, in which case
+# glibc should not have any too-recent imports. See core/CMake_readelf.cmake
+# for more information. This is off by default, but gets set by
+# make/package.cmake.
+option(BUILD_PACKAGE "build DynamoRIO for packaging purposes by performing glibc checks" OFF)
+
 # configurations that also have defines
 option(DRSTATS_DEMO "build DRstats without the no-longer-supported Run, etc. controls" ON)
 
diff --git a/api/docs/release.dox b/api/docs/release.dox
index 427a2221214..68e7b134ce1 100644
--- a/api/docs/release.dox
+++ b/api/docs/release.dox
@@ -126,7 +126,11 @@ clients.
 
 The changes between version \DR_VERSION and 9.0.0 include the following compatibility
 changes:
- - (Nothing so far: this is a placeholder.)
+ - Introduced a new CMake option called BUILD_PACKAGE to skip glibc
+   compatibility checks. This is off by default such that building DynamoRIO
+   from source is straight-forward to do on rolling release Linux
+   distributions, and enabled by make/package.cmake when building a
+   distributable version of DynamoRIO.
 
 Further non-compatibility-affecting changes include:
  - Added alias support to droption.
diff --git a/core/CMakeLists.txt b/core/CMakeLists.txt
index 281869b4695..4bf1c95a882 100644
--- a/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -661,7 +661,7 @@ if (UNIX)
         ARGS -D lib_fileloc=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${locvar_name}
              -D check_textrel=${check_textrel}
              -D check_deps=${check_deps}
-             -D check_libc=OFF
+             -D check_libc=${BUILD_PACKAGE}
              -D check_interp=ON
              -D READELF_EXECUTABLE=${READELF_EXECUTABLE}
              -P ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/CMake_readelf.cmake
@@ -931,7 +931,7 @@ if (UNIX)
       ARGS -D lib_fileloc=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${locvar_name}
            -D check_textrel=ON
            -D check_deps=OFF
-           -D check_libc=ON
+           -D check_libc=${BUILD_PACKAGE}
            -D check_interp=ON
            -D READELF_EXECUTABLE=${READELF_EXECUTABLE}
            -P ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/CMake_readelf.cmake
diff --git a/core/CMake_readelf.cmake b/core/CMake_readelf.cmake
index 7db2d6fe89e..73976194167 100644
--- a/core/CMake_readelf.cmake
+++ b/core/CMake_readelf.cmake
@@ -127,23 +127,42 @@ if (check_libc)
   if (readelf_result OR readelf_error)
     message(FATAL_ERROR "*** ${READELF_EXECUTABLE} failed: ***\n${readelf_error}")
   endif (readelf_result OR readelf_error)
-  # Avoid dependences beyond glibc 2.4 (2.17 on AArch64) for maximum backward
+
+  # Avoid dependences beyond the oldest well-supported version of glibc for maximum backward
   # portability without going to extremes with a fixed toolchain (xref i#1504):
   execute_process(COMMAND
     ${READELF_EXECUTABLE} -h ${${lib_file}}
     OUTPUT_VARIABLE file_header_result
     )
-  if (file_header_result MATCHES "AArch64")
-    set (glibc_version_regexp "2\\.(1[8-9]|[2-9][0-9])")
-  else ()
-    set (glibc_version_regexp "2\\.([5-9]|[1-9][0-9])")
-  endif ()
-  string(REGEX MATCH " GLOBAL [ A-Z]* UND [^\n]*@GLIBC_${glibc_version_regexp}"
-    has_recent "${string}")
-  if (has_recent)
-    string(REGEX MATCH " GLOBAL DEFAULT  UND [^\n]*@GLIBC_${glibc_version_regexp}[^\n]*\n"
-      symname "${string}")
-    message(FATAL_ERROR "*** Error: ${${lib_file}} has too-recent import: ${symname}")
+
+  # To determine the minimum version of glibc that we should support for packaging, we should
+  # check the Linux distributions that are known not to be rolling releases and offer long
+  # support, and then check the oldest option available that is not yet EOL. As of writing,
+  # these are:
+  #  * Debian Stretch, which is on glibc 2.24
+  #  * CentOS 7/RHEL 7, which is on glibc 2.17
+  #  * Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial), which is on glibc 2.23
+  #
+  # Therefore, we want to support at least glibc 2.17.
+  #
+  # The glibc version is independent of the architecture. For instance, RHEL 7 for AArch64 also
+  # ships glibc 2.17 as of writing.
+  set (glibc_version "2.17")
+
+  set (glibc_version_regexp " GLOBAL [ A-Z]* UND [^\n]*@GLIBC_([0-9]+\\.[0-9]+)")
+  string(REGEX MATCHALL "${glibc_version_regexp}" imports "${string}")
+
+  foreach (import ${imports})
+    string(REGEX MATCH "${glibc_version_regexp}" match "${import}")
+    set(version ${CMAKE_MATCH_1})
+
+    if (${version} VERSION_GREATER ${glibc_version})
+      set(too_recent "${too_recent}\n  ${import}")
+    endif ()
+  endforeach ()
+
+  if (too_recent)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "*** Error: ${${lib_file}} has too-recent import(s):${too_recent}")
   endif ()
 endif ()
 
diff --git a/make/package.cmake b/make/package.cmake
index 54e686c3d9e..60c2debd621 100644
--- a/make/package.cmake
+++ b/make/package.cmake
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ set(base_cache "
   ${base_cache}
   BUILD_NUMBER:STRING=${arg_build}
   UNIQUE_BUILD_NUMBER:STRING=${arg_ubuild}
+  BUILD_PACKAGE:BOOL=ON
   ${arg_cacheappend}
   ")
 
diff --git a/tools/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
index 4d7e0fa97c5..2748e1be702 100644
--- a/tools/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ foreach (deploytgt drconfig drrun drinject)
       ARGS -D lib_fileloc=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${locvar_name}
            -D check_textrel=ON
            -D check_deps=OFF
-           -D check_libc=ON
+           -D check_libc=${BUILD_PACKAGE}
            -D READELF_EXECUTABLE=${READELF_EXECUTABLE}
            -P ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/core/CMake_readelf.cmake
       VERBATIM # recommended: p260