diff --git a/Config.in b/Config.in
index 74aeb465ee..d795361148 100644
--- a/Config.in
+++ b/Config.in
@@ -286,6 +286,33 @@ config BR2_CCACHE_INITIAL_SETUP
 
 	  These initial settings are applied after ccache has been compiled.
 
+config BR2_CCACHE_USE_BASEDIR
+	bool "Use relative paths"
+	default y
+	help
+	  Allow ccache to convert absolute paths within the output
+	  directory into relative paths.
+
+	  During the build, many -I include directives are given with
+	  an absolute path. These absolute paths end up in the hashes
+	  that are computed by ccache. Therefore, when you build from a
+	  different directory, the hash will be different and the
+	  cached object will not be used.
+
+	  To improve cache performance, set this option to y. This
+	  allows ccache to rewrite absolute paths within the output
+	  directory into relative paths. Note that only paths within
+	  the output directory will be rewritten; therefore, if you
+	  change BR2_HOST_DIR to point outside the output directory and
+	  subsequently move it to a different location, this will lead
+	  to cache misses.
+
+	  This option has as a result that the debug information in the
+	  object files also has only relative paths. Therefore, make
+	  sure you cd to the build directory before starting gdb. See
+	  the section "COMPILING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTORIES" in the
+	  ccache manual for more information.
+
 endif
 
 config BR2_DEPRECATED
diff --git a/docs/manual/ccache-support.txt b/docs/manual/ccache-support.txt
index 992471dbf7..f6746ad7d8 100644
--- a/docs/manual/ccache-support.txt
+++ b/docs/manual/ccache-support.txt
@@ -33,3 +33,23 @@ make CCACHE_OPTIONS="--max-size=5G" ccache-options
 # zero statistics counters
 make CCACHE_OPTIONS="--zero-stats" ccache-options
 -----------------
+
++ccache+ makes a hash of the source files and of the compiler options.
+If a compiler option is different, the cached object file will not be
+used. Many compiler options, however, contain an absolute path to the
+staging directory. Because of this, building in a different output
+directory would lead to many cache misses.
+
+To avoid this issue, buildroot has the +Use relative paths+ option
+(+BR2_CCACHE_USE_BASEDIR+). This will rewrite all absolute paths that
+point inside the output directory into relative paths. Thus, changing
+the output directory no longer leads to cache misses.
+
+A disadvantage of the relative paths is that they also end up to be
+relative paths in the object file. Therefore, for example, the debugger
+will no longer find the file, unless you cd to the output directory
+first.
+
+See https://ccache.samba.org/manual.html#_compiling_in_different_directories[the
+ccache manual's section on "Compiling in different directories"] for
+more details about this rewriting of absolute paths.
diff --git a/package/gcc/gcc.mk b/package/gcc/gcc.mk
index 103cbe17b7..420c4e9b7c 100644
--- a/package/gcc/gcc.mk
+++ b/package/gcc/gcc.mk
@@ -256,8 +256,10 @@ HOST_GCC_COMMON_CCACHE_HASH_FILES += package/gcc/$(GCC_VERSION)/1000-powerpc-lin
 endif
 endif
 
+# _CONF_OPTS contains some references to the absolute path of $(HOST_DIR),
+# so substitute those away.
 HOST_GCC_COMMON_TOOLCHAIN_WRAPPER_ARGS += -DBR_CCACHE_HASH=\"`\
-	printf '%s' $($(PKG)_CONF_OPTS) $(GCC_VERSION) \
+	printf '%s' $(subst $(HOST_DIR),@HOST_DIR@,$($(PKG)_CONF_OPTS)) \
 		| sha256sum - $(HOST_GCC_COMMON_CCACHE_HASH_FILES) \
 		| cut -c -64 | tr -d '\n'`\"
 endif # BR2_CCACHE
diff --git a/toolchain/toolchain-wrapper.c b/toolchain/toolchain-wrapper.c
index d52115f51a..11f93f0fd5 100644
--- a/toolchain/toolchain-wrapper.c
+++ b/toolchain/toolchain-wrapper.c
@@ -267,6 +267,10 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 #ifdef BR_CCACHE_HASH
 			fprintf(stderr, "%sCCACHE_COMPILERCHECK='string:" BR_CCACHE_HASH "'",
 				(debug == 2) ? "\n    " : " ");
+#endif
+#ifdef BR_CCACHE_BASEDIR
+			fprintf(stderr, "%sCCACHE_BASEDIR='" BR_CCACHE_BASEDIR "'",
+				(debug == 2) ? "\n    " : " ");
 #endif
 			for (i = 0; exec_args[i]; i++)
 				fprintf(stderr, "%s'%s'",
@@ -282,6 +286,13 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		return 3;
 	}
 #endif
+#ifdef BR_CCACHE_BASEDIR
+	/* Allow compilercheck to be overridden through the environment */
+	if (setenv("CCACHE_BASEDIR", BR_CCACHE_BASEDIR, 0)) {
+		perror(__FILE__ ": Failed to set CCACHE_BASEDIR");
+		return 3;
+	}
+#endif
 
 	if (execv(exec_args[0], exec_args))
 		perror(path);
diff --git a/toolchain/toolchain-wrapper.mk b/toolchain/toolchain-wrapper.mk
index 749afd7a59..c78363a2ed 100644
--- a/toolchain/toolchain-wrapper.mk
+++ b/toolchain/toolchain-wrapper.mk
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_CCACHE),y)
 TOOLCHAIN_WRAPPER_ARGS += -DBR_CCACHE
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_CCACHE_USE_BASEDIR),y)
+TOOLCHAIN_WRAPPER_ARGS += -DBR_CCACHE_BASEDIR='"$(BASE_DIR)"'
+endif
+
 # For simplicity, build directly into the install location
 define TOOLCHAIN_BUILD_WRAPPER
 	$(Q)mkdir -p $(HOST_DIR)/usr/bin