diff --git a/libsemanage/man/man5/semanage.conf.5 b/libsemanage/man/man5/semanage.conf.5
index 8f8de55a..8efc7dd5 100644
--- a/libsemanage/man/man5/semanage.conf.5
+++ b/libsemanage/man/man5/semanage.conf.5
@@ -121,6 +121,11 @@ and by default it is set to "false".
 Please note that since this option deletes all HLL files, an updated HLL compiler will not be able to recompile the original HLL file into CIL.
 In order to compile the original HLL file into CIL, the same HLL file will need to be reinstalled.
 
+.TP
+.B optimize-policy
+When set to "true", the kernel policy will be optimized upon rebuilds.
+It can be set to either "true" or "false" and by default it is set to "false".
+
 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 .TP
 semanage(8)
diff --git a/libsemanage/src/conf-parse.y b/libsemanage/src/conf-parse.y
index b527e893..9bf9364a 100644
--- a/libsemanage/src/conf-parse.y
+++ b/libsemanage/src/conf-parse.y
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ static int parse_errors;
         char *s;
 }
 
-%token MODULE_STORE VERSION EXPAND_CHECK FILE_MODE SAVE_PREVIOUS SAVE_LINKED TARGET_PLATFORM COMPILER_DIR IGNORE_MODULE_CACHE STORE_ROOT
+%token MODULE_STORE VERSION EXPAND_CHECK FILE_MODE SAVE_PREVIOUS SAVE_LINKED TARGET_PLATFORM COMPILER_DIR IGNORE_MODULE_CACHE STORE_ROOT OPTIMIZE_POLICY
 %token LOAD_POLICY_START SETFILES_START SEFCONTEXT_COMPILE_START DISABLE_GENHOMEDIRCON HANDLE_UNKNOWN USEPASSWD IGNOREDIRS
 %token BZIP_BLOCKSIZE BZIP_SMALL REMOVE_HLL
 %token VERIFY_MOD_START VERIFY_LINKED_START VERIFY_KERNEL_START BLOCK_END
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ single_opt:     module_store
 	|	bzip_blocksize
 	|	bzip_small
 	|	remove_hll
+	|	optimize_policy
         ;
 
 module_store:   MODULE_STORE '=' ARG {
@@ -268,6 +269,17 @@ remove_hll:  REMOVE_HLL'=' ARG {
 	free($3);
 }
 
+optimize_policy:  OPTIMIZE_POLICY '=' ARG {
+	if (strcasecmp($3, "false") == 0) {
+		current_conf->optimize_policy = 0;
+	} else if (strcasecmp($3, "true") == 0) {
+		current_conf->optimize_policy = 1;
+	} else {
+		yyerror("optimize-policy can only be 'true' or 'false'");
+	}
+	free($3);
+}
+
 command_block: 
                 command_start external_opts BLOCK_END  {
                         if (new_external->path == NULL) {
@@ -352,6 +364,7 @@ static int semanage_conf_init(semanage_conf_t * conf)
 	conf->bzip_small = 0;
 	conf->ignore_module_cache = 0;
 	conf->remove_hll = 0;
+	conf->optimize_policy = 0;
 
 	conf->save_previous = 0;
 	conf->save_linked = 0;
diff --git a/libsemanage/src/conf-scan.l b/libsemanage/src/conf-scan.l
index 607bbf0b..b06a896c 100644
--- a/libsemanage/src/conf-scan.l
+++ b/libsemanage/src/conf-scan.l
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ handle-unknown    return HANDLE_UNKNOWN;
 bzip-blocksize	return BZIP_BLOCKSIZE;
 bzip-small	return BZIP_SMALL;
 remove-hll	return REMOVE_HLL;
+optimize-policy return OPTIMIZE_POLICY;
 "[load_policy]"   return LOAD_POLICY_START;
 "[setfiles]"      return SETFILES_START;
 "[sefcontext_compile]"      return SEFCONTEXT_COMPILE_START;
diff --git a/libsemanage/src/direct_api.c b/libsemanage/src/direct_api.c
index 7e097d5f..1088a0ac 100644
--- a/libsemanage/src/direct_api.c
+++ b/libsemanage/src/direct_api.c
@@ -1461,6 +1461,13 @@ rebuild:
 
 		cil_db_destroy(&cildb);
 
+		/* Remove redundancies in binary policy if requested. */
+		if (sh->conf->optimize_policy) {
+			retval = sepol_policydb_optimize(out);
+			if (retval < 0)
+				goto cleanup;
+		}
+
 		/* Write the linked policy before merging local changes. */
 		retval = semanage_write_policydb(sh, out,
 						 SEMANAGE_LINKED);
diff --git a/libsemanage/src/semanage_conf.h b/libsemanage/src/semanage_conf.h
index c99ac8c7..23c4b8b4 100644
--- a/libsemanage/src/semanage_conf.h
+++ b/libsemanage/src/semanage_conf.h
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ typedef struct semanage_conf {
 	int bzip_small;
 	int remove_hll;
 	int ignore_module_cache;
+	int optimize_policy;
 	char *ignoredirs;	/* ";" separated of list for genhomedircon to ignore */
 	struct external_prog *load_policy;
 	struct external_prog *setfiles;