diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 483872b2..359b6670 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ TimerOutputs = "0.5"
 julia = "1.6"
 
 [extras]
+Distributed = "8ba89e20-285c-5b6f-9357-94700520ee1b"
 SPIRV_LLVM_Translator_jll = "4a5d46fc-d8cf-5151-a261-86b458210efb"
 SPIRV_Tools_jll = "6ac6d60f-d740-5983-97d7-a4482c0689f4"
 Test = "8dfed614-e22c-5e08-85e1-65c5234f0b40"
 
 [targets]
-test = ["Test", "SPIRV_LLVM_Translator_jll", "SPIRV_Tools_jll"]
+test = ["Test", "SPIRV_LLVM_Translator_jll", "SPIRV_Tools_jll", "Distributed"]
diff --git a/src/driver.jl b/src/driver.jl
index 9f36d720..2dd00514 100644
--- a/src/driver.jl
+++ b/src/driver.jl
@@ -219,8 +219,12 @@ const __llvm_initialized = Ref(false)
                 internalize!(pm, exports)
 
                 # eliminate all unused internal functions
+                add!(pm, ModulePass("ExternalizeJuliaGlobals",
+                                    externalize_julia_globals!))
                 global_optimizer!(pm)
                 global_dce!(pm)
+                add!(pm, ModulePass("InternalizeJuliaGlobals",
+                                    internalize_julia_globals!))
                 strip_dead_prototypes!(pm)
 
                 # merge constants (such as exception messages) from the runtime
@@ -309,6 +313,39 @@ const __llvm_initialized = Ref(false)
     return ir, (; entry, compiled)
 end
 
+# Protect null globals from being killed and inlined
+function externalize_julia_globals!(mod::LLVM.Module)
+    changed = false
+    for gbl in LLVM.globals(mod)
+        if LLVM.linkage(gbl) == LLVM.API.LLVMInternalLinkage &&
+           typeof(LLVM.initializer(gbl)) <: LLVM.PointerNull &&
+           (startswith(LLVM.name(gbl), "jl_global") ||
+            startswith(LLVM.name(gbl), "jl_sym"))
+            LLVM.linkage!(gbl, LLVM.API.LLVMExternalLinkage)
+            LLVM.initializer!(gbl, nothing)
+            LLVM.extinit!(gbl, true)
+            changed = true
+        end
+    end
+    changed
+end
+# And reset the back later
+function internalize_julia_globals!(mod::LLVM.Module)
+    changed = false
+    for gbl in LLVM.globals(mod)
+        if LLVM.linkage(gbl) == LLVM.API.LLVMExternalLinkage &&
+           LLVM.initializer(gbl) === nothing &&
+           (startswith(LLVM.name(gbl), "jl_global") ||
+            startswith(LLVM.name(gbl), "jl_sym"))
+            LLVM.extinit!(gbl, false)
+            LLVM.initializer!(gbl, null(eltype(llvmtype(gbl))))
+            LLVM.linkage!(gbl, LLVM.API.LLVMInternalLinkage)
+            changed = true
+        end
+    end
+    changed
+end
+
 @locked function emit_asm(@nospecialize(job::CompilerJob), ir::LLVM.Module;
                           strip::Bool=false, validate::Bool=true, format::LLVM.API.LLVMCodeGenFileType)
     finish_module!(job, ir)
diff --git a/src/interface.jl b/src/interface.jl
index 299dbffe..0876a49c 100644
--- a/src/interface.jl
+++ b/src/interface.jl
@@ -197,3 +197,6 @@ function llvm_debug_info(@nospecialize(job::CompilerJob))
         LLVM.API.LLVMDebugEmissionKindFullDebug
     end
 end
+
+# whether we should compile in imaging mode
+extern_policy(::CompilerJob) = false
diff --git a/src/mcgen.jl b/src/mcgen.jl
index ba28e787..404abb39 100644
--- a/src/mcgen.jl
+++ b/src/mcgen.jl
@@ -7,11 +7,15 @@ function prepare_execution!(@nospecialize(job::CompilerJob), mod::LLVM.Module)
         global current_job
         current_job = job
 
+        add!(pm, ModulePass("ExternalizeJuliaGlobals",
+                            externalize_julia_globals!))
         global_optimizer!(pm)
 
         add!(pm, ModulePass("ResolveCPUReferences", resolve_cpu_references!))
 
         global_dce!(pm)
+        add!(pm, ModulePass("InternalizeJuliaGlobals",
+                            internalize_julia_globals!))
         strip_dead_prototypes!(pm)
 
         run!(pm, mod)
diff --git a/src/native.jl b/src/native.jl
index 738b76c2..cfc7f2a8 100644
--- a/src/native.jl
+++ b/src/native.jl
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ export NativeCompilerTarget
 Base.@kwdef struct NativeCompilerTarget <: AbstractCompilerTarget
     cpu::String=(LLVM.version() < v"8") ? "" : unsafe_string(LLVM.API.LLVMGetHostCPUName())
     features::String=(LLVM.version() < v"8") ? "" : unsafe_string(LLVM.API.LLVMGetHostCPUFeatures())
-    always_inline::Bool=false # will mark the job function as always inline 
+    always_inline::Bool=false # will mark the job function as always inline
+    reloc::LLVM.API.LLVMRelocMode=LLVM.API.LLVMRelocDefault
+    extern::Bool=false
 end
 
 llvm_triple(::NativeCompilerTarget) = Sys.MACHINE
@@ -17,7 +19,9 @@ function llvm_machine(target::NativeCompilerTarget)
 
     t = Target(triple=triple)
 
-    tm = TargetMachine(t, triple, target.cpu, target.features)
+    optlevel = LLVM.API.LLVMCodeGenLevelDefault
+    reloc = target.reloc
+    tm = TargetMachine(t, triple, target.cpu, target.features, optlevel, reloc)
     asm_verbosity!(tm, true)
 
     return tm
@@ -30,6 +34,9 @@ function process_entry!(job::CompilerJob{NativeCompilerTarget}, mod::LLVM.Module
     invoke(process_entry!, Tuple{CompilerJob, LLVM.Module, LLVM.Function}, job, mod, entry)
 end
 
+GPUCompiler.extern_policy(job::CompilerJob{NativeCompilerTarget,P} where P) =
+    job.target.extern
+
 ## job
 
 runtime_slug(job::CompilerJob{NativeCompilerTarget}) = "native_$(job.target.cpu)-$(hash(job.target.features))"
diff --git a/test/native.jl b/test/native.jl
index 2fbb2070..b0da63f9 100644
--- a/test/native.jl
+++ b/test/native.jl
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+using Distributed
 @testset "native" begin
 
 include("definitions/native.jl")
@@ -262,6 +263,7 @@ end
         occursin("[2] func", msg)
     end
 end
+end
 
 @testset "LazyCodegen" begin
     import .LazyCodegen: call_delayed
@@ -311,7 +313,94 @@ end
     @test call_delayed(complex, 1.0, 2.0) == 1.0+2.0im
 end
 
+addprocs(1)
+
+@everywhere workers() begin
+    using GPUCompiler
+    using Libdl
+    include("definitions/native.jl")
+end
+@everywhere begin
+function generate_shlib(f, tt, name=GPUCompiler.safe_name(repr(f)))
+    mktemp() do path, io
+        source = FunctionSpec(f, Base.to_tuple_type(tt), false, name)
+        target = NativeCompilerTarget(;reloc=LLVM.API.LLVMRelocPIC, extern=true)
+        params = TestCompilerParams()
+        job = CompilerJob(target, source, params)
+        obj, _ = GPUCompiler.codegen(:obj, job; strip=true, only_entry=false, validate=false)
+        write(io, obj)
+        flush(io)
+        # FIXME: Be more portable
+        run(`ld -shared -o $path.$dlext $path`)
+        return "$path.$dlext", name
+    end
+end
+function load_fptr(path, name)
+    ptr = dlopen("$path", Libdl.RTLD_LOCAL)
+    fptr = dlsym(ptr, "julia_$name")
+    @assert fptr != C_NULL
+    atexit(()->rm("$path"))
+    fptr
+end
+generate_shlib_fptr(f, tt, name=GPUCompiler.safe_name(repr(f))) =
+    load_fptr(generate_shlib(f, tt, name)...)
+end
+
+@static if VERSION >= v"1.7.0-DEV.600" && Sys.isunix()
+@testset "shared library emission" begin
+    @testset "primitive types" begin
+        f1(x) = x+1
+        @test ccall(generate_shlib_fptr(f1, (Int,)), Int, (Int,), 1) == 2
+        f2(x,y) = x+y
+        path, name = generate_shlib(f2, (Int,Int))
+        @test fetch(@spawnat 2 ccall(load_fptr(path, name), Int, (Int,Int), 1, 2)) == 3
+    end
+    @testset "runtime calls" begin
+        function f3()
+            # Something reasonably complicated
+            if isdir(homedir())
+                true
+            else
+                false
+            end
+        end
+        @test ccall(generate_shlib_fptr(f3, ()), Bool, ())
+    end
+    @testset "String/Symbol" begin
+        f4(str) = str*"!"
+        @test ccall(generate_shlib_fptr(f4, (String,)), String, (String,), "Hello") == "Hello!"
+
+        f5() = :asymbol
+        @test ccall(generate_shlib_fptr(f5, ()), Symbol, ()) == :asymbol
+
+        f6(x) = x == :asymbol ? true : false
+        @test ccall(generate_shlib_fptr(f6, (Symbol,)), Bool, (Symbol,), :asymbol)
+        @test !ccall(generate_shlib_fptr(f6, (Symbol,)), Bool, (Symbol,), :bsymbol)
+    end
+    @testset "closures" begin
+        y = [42.0]
+        function cf1(x)
+            x + y[1]
+        end
+        @test ccall(generate_shlib_fptr(cf1, (Float64,)), Float64, (Any, Float64,), cf1, 1.0) == 43.0
+    end
+    @testset "mutation" begin
+        function cf2(A, sym)
+            if sym != :asymbol
+                A[] = true
+            else
+                A[] = false
+            end
+            return nothing
+        end
+        A = Ref(false)
+        fptr = generate_shlib_fptr(cf2, (Base.RefValue{Bool}, Symbol))
+        ccall(fptr, Nothing, (Any, Symbol), A, :asymbol); @test !A[]
+        ccall(fptr, Nothing, (Any, Symbol), A, :bsymbol); @test A[]
+    end
+end
 end
+rmprocs(2)
 
 ############################################################################################