diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-lang/spidermonkey/files/spidermonkey-1.8.5-no-link-lib-deps.patch b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-lang/spidermonkey/files/spidermonkey-1.8.5-no-link-lib-deps.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5375858a6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-lang/spidermonkey/files/spidermonkey-1.8.5-no-link-lib-deps.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+This build system appears to allow for the use of -lfoo form to link
+against locally built libraries. However this appears to not be used
+and the automatic addition of -lfoo libs to make's dependencies breaks
+when an alternate $ROOT is set because make's search for -lfoo libs
+is incomplete and only considers /lib and /usr/lib.
+
+--- js-1.8.5/js/src/config/rules.mk.orig	2015-10-12 15:34:30.641354103 -0700
++++ js-1.8.5/js/src/config/rules.mk	2015-10-12 15:35:33.845673943 -0700
+@@ -860,23 +860,6 @@
+ HOST_LIBS_DEPS = $(filter %.$(LIB_SUFFIX), $(HOST_LIBS))
+ DSO_LDOPTS_DEPS = $(EXTRA_DSO_LIBS) $(filter %.$(LIB_SUFFIX), $(EXTRA_DSO_LDOPTS))
+ 
+-ifndef _LIBNAME_RELATIVE_PATHS
+-
+-LIBS_DEPS += $(filter -l%, $(LIBS))
+-HOST_LIBS_DEPS += $(filter -l%, $(HOST_LIBS))
+-DSO_LDOPTS_DEPS += $(filter -l%, $(EXTRA_DSO_LDOPTS))
+-
+-_LIBDIRS = $(patsubst -L%,%,$(filter -L%, $(LIBS) $(HOST_LIBS) $(EXTRA_DSO_LDOPTS)))
+-ifneq (,$(_LIBDIRS))
+-vpath $(LIB_PREFIX)%.$(LIB_SUFFIX) $(_LIBDIRS)
+-ifdef IMPORT_LIB_SUFFIX
+-vpath $(LIB_PREFIX)%.$(IMPORT_LIB_SUFFIX) $(_LIBDIRS)
+-endif # IMPORT_LIB_SUFFIX
+-vpath $(DLL_PREFIX)%$(DLL_SUFFIX) $(_LIBDIRS)
+-endif # _LIBDIRS
+-
+-endif # _LIBNAME_RELATIVE_PATHS
+-
+ # Dependencies which, if modified, should cause everything to rebuild
+ GLOBAL_DEPS += Makefile Makefile.in $(DEPTH)/config/autoconf.mk $(topsrcdir)/config/config.mk
+ 
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-lang/spidermonkey/spidermonkey-1.8.5-r4.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-lang/spidermonkey/spidermonkey-1.8.5-r4.ebuild
index e5dff36be1..d319becbc2 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-lang/spidermonkey/spidermonkey-1.8.5-r4.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-lang/spidermonkey/spidermonkey-1.8.5-r4.ebuild
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ src_prepare() {
 	epatch "${FILESDIR}"/${PN}-1.8.5-isfinite.patch
 	# https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=552786
 	epatch "${FILESDIR}"/${PN}-perl-defined-array-check.patch
+	# fix builds for alternate $ROOT locations
+	epatch "${FILESDIR}"/${P}-no-link-lib-deps.patch
 
 	epatch_user