diff --git a/easybuild/tools/options.py b/easybuild/tools/options.py
index be5cf94f75..197514eb07 100644
--- a/easybuild/tools/options.py
+++ b/easybuild/tools/options.py
@@ -103,8 +103,8 @@
 from easybuild.tools.toolchain.compiler import DEFAULT_OPT_LEVEL, OPTARCH_MAP_CHAR, OPTARCH_SEP, Compiler
 from easybuild.tools.toolchain.toolchain import SYSTEM_TOOLCHAIN_NAME
 from easybuild.tools.repository.repository import avail_repositories
-from easybuild.tools.systemtools import UNKNOWN, check_python_version, get_cpu_architecture, get_cpu_family
-from easybuild.tools.systemtools import get_cpu_features, get_gpu_info, get_system_info
+from easybuild.tools.systemtools import DARWIN, UNKNOWN, check_python_version, get_cpu_architecture, get_cpu_family
+from easybuild.tools.systemtools import get_cpu_features, get_gpu_info, get_os_type, get_system_info
 from easybuild.tools.version import this_is_easybuild
 
 
@@ -131,6 +131,8 @@ def terminal_supports_colors(stream):
 DEFAULT_LIST_PR_ORDER = GITHUB_PR_ORDER_CREATED
 DEFAULT_LIST_PR_DIREC = GITHUB_PR_DIRECTION_DESC
 
+RPATH_DEFAULT = False if get_os_type() == DARWIN else True
+
 _log = fancylogger.getLogger('options', fname=False)
 
 
@@ -489,7 +491,7 @@ def override_options(self):
             'required-linked-shared-libs': ("Comma-separated list of shared libraries (names, file names, or paths) "
                                             "which must be linked in all installed binaries/libraries",
                                             'strlist', 'extend', None),
-            'rpath': ("Enable use of RPATH for linking with libraries", None, 'store_true', False),
+            'rpath': ("Enable use of RPATH for linking with libraries", None, 'store_true', RPATH_DEFAULT),
             'rpath-filter': ("List of regex patterns to use for filtering out RPATH paths", 'strlist', 'store', None),
             'rpath-override-dirs': ("Path(s) to be prepended when linking with RPATH (string, colon-separated)",
                                     None, 'store', None),
diff --git a/test/framework/options.py b/test/framework/options.py
index ca8a582365..5d87695661 100644
--- a/test/framework/options.py
+++ b/test/framework/options.py
@@ -4121,6 +4121,7 @@ def test_extended_dry_run(self):
             '--buildpath=%s' % self.test_buildpath,
             '--installpath=%s' % self.test_installpath,
             '--debug',
+            '--disable-rpath',
         ]
 
         msg_regexs = [
diff --git a/test/framework/toolchain.py b/test/framework/toolchain.py
index 1c8c1771a6..918b344dcf 100644
--- a/test/framework/toolchain.py
+++ b/test/framework/toolchain.py
@@ -2269,6 +2269,7 @@ def test_compiler_cache(self):
             "--force",
             "--debug",
             "--disable-cleanup-tmpdir",
+            "--disable-rpath",
         ]
 
         ccache = which('ccache')