diff --git a/var/spack/packages/bzip2/package.py b/var/spack/packages/bzip2/package.py
index fbd5869a5328ef9a7b18c6b26e713fb38b7321cf..d88336664db0949d9d2596be430eb25afee735a4 100644
--- a/var/spack/packages/bzip2/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/packages/bzip2/package.py
@@ -22,8 +22,10 @@ def install(self, spec, prefix):
 
         bzip2_exe = join_path(prefix.bin, 'bzip2')
         install('bzip2-shared', bzip2_exe)
-        for libfile in glob('libbz2.so*'):
+        for i, libfile in enumerate(glob('libbz2.so*')):
             install(libfile, prefix.lib)
+            if i == 0:
+                symlink(join_path(prefix.lib, libfile), join_path(prefix.lib, 'libbz2.so'))
 
         bunzip2 = join_path(prefix.bin, 'bunzip2')
         remove(bunzip2)