diff -r 1383a260b66d Doc/library/ctypes.rst
--- a/Doc/library/ctypes.rst	Wed Feb 10 01:17:51 2016 +0000
+++ b/Doc/library/ctypes.rst	Sun Feb 21 21:00:51 2016 +0100
@@ -1252,15 +1252,15 @@
 
 On Linux, :func:`find_library` tries to run external programs
 (``/sbin/ldconfig``, ``gcc``, and ``objdump``) to find the library file.  It
-returns the filename of the library file.  Here are some examples::
+returns the absolute path of the library file.  Here are some examples::
 
    >>> from ctypes.util import find_library
    >>> find_library("m")
-   'libm.so.6'
+   '/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6'
    >>> find_library("c")
-   'libc.so.6'
+   '/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6'
    >>> find_library("bz2")
-   'libbz2.so.1.0'
+   '/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libbz2.so.1.0'
    >>>
 
 On OS X, :func:`find_library` tries several predefined naming schemes and paths
@@ -1829,6 +1829,9 @@
 
    The exact functionality is system dependent.
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.6
+      On Linux it returns an absolute path.
+
 
 .. function:: find_msvcrt()
    :module: ctypes.util
diff -r 1383a260b66d Lib/ctypes/test/test_find.py
--- a/Lib/ctypes/test/test_find.py	Wed Feb 10 01:17:51 2016 +0000
+++ b/Lib/ctypes/test/test_find.py	Sun Feb 21 21:00:51 2016 +0100
@@ -64,6 +64,25 @@
             self.skipTest('lib_gle not available')
         self.gle.gleGetJoinStyle
 
+    def test_abspath(self):
+        lib_gl = lib_glu = lib_gle = None
+        if sys.platform == "win32":
+            lib_gl = find_library("OpenGL32")
+            lib_glu = find_library("Glu32")
+        elif sys.platform == "darwin":
+            lib_gl = lib_glu = find_library("OpenGL")
+        else:
+            lib_gl = find_library("GL")
+            lib_glu = find_library("GLU")
+            lib_gle = find_library("gle")
+
+        if lib_gl:
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isabs(lib_gl))
+        if lib_glu:
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isabs(lib_glu))
+        if lib_gle:
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isabs(lib_gle))
+
 # On platforms where the default shared library suffix is '.so',
 # at least some libraries can be loaded as attributes of the cdll
 # object, since ctypes now tries loading the lib again
diff -r 1383a260b66d Lib/ctypes/util.py
--- a/Lib/ctypes/util.py	Wed Feb 10 01:17:51 2016 +0000
+++ b/Lib/ctypes/util.py	Sun Feb 21 21:00:51 2016 +0100
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@
 
             # XXX assuming GLIBC's ldconfig (with option -p)
             regex = os.fsencode(
-                '\s+(lib%s\.[^\s]+)\s+\(%s' % (re.escape(name), abi_type))
+                r'lib%s\.[^\s]+\s\(%s(?:,\s.*)?\)\s=>\s(.*)' % (re.escape(name), abi_type))
             try:
                 with subprocess.Popen(['/sbin/ldconfig', '-p'],
                                       stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL,