diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 66322fe2fb..c993c628d3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ option(ENABLE_EXTERNAL_PLUGINS "Enable loading of externally built Rime plugins
 option(ENABLE_THREADING "Enable threading for deployer" ON)
 option(ENABLE_TIMESTAMP "Embed timestamp to schema artifacts" ON)
 
-set(RIME_DATA_DIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_DATADIR}/rime-data" CACHE STRING "Target directory for Rime data")
-set(RIME_PLUGINS_DIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_LIBDIR}/rime-plugins" CACHE STRING "Target directory for externally built Rime plugins")
+set(RIME_DATA_DIR "rime-data" CACHE STRING "Target directory for Rime data")
+set(RIME_PLUGINS_DIR "rime-plugins" CACHE STRING "Target directory for externally built Rime plugins")
 
 if(WIN32)
   set(ext ".exe")
@@ -205,8 +205,8 @@ if(${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME} MATCHES "Linux|FreeBSD|DragonFly|GNU|Darwin" OR MINGW)
   set(exec_prefix "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}")
   set(bindir "${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_BINDIR}")
   set(libdir "${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_LIBDIR}")
-  set(pkgdatadir "${RIME_DATA_DIR}")
-  set(pluginsdir "${RIME_PLUGINS_DIR}")
+  set(pkgdatadir "${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_DATADIR}/${RIME_DATA_DIR}")
+  set(pluginsdir "${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_LIBDIR}/${RIME_PLUGINS_DIR}")
   set(includedir "${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_INCLUDEDIR}")
   configure_file(
       ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/rime.pc.in
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ endif()
 
 if(BUILD_DATA)
   file(GLOB rime_preset_data_files ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/data/preset/*.yaml)
-  install(FILES ${rime_preset_data_files} DESTINATION ${RIME_DATA_DIR})
+  install(FILES ${rime_preset_data_files} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_DATADIR}/${RIME_DATA_DIR})
 endif()
 
 if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
diff --git a/plugins/CMakeLists.txt b/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
index 9e6fe47e0e..09af61330c 100644
--- a/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 set(RIME_SOURCE_DIR ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR})
-set(LIBRARY_OUTPUT_PATH ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/lib)
 
 # work around CMake build issues on macOS
 set(rime_plugin_boilerplate_src "plugin.cc")
@@ -55,10 +54,14 @@ foreach(plugin ${plugins})
     message(STATUS "Plugin ${plugin_name} provides modules: ${plugin_modules}")
     add_library(${plugin_name} ${rime_plugin_boilerplate_src} ${plugin_objs})
     target_link_libraries(${plugin_name} ${plugin_deps})
+    set_target_properties(${plugin_name}
+      PROPERTIES
+      LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/lib/${RIME_PLUGINS_DIR}
+      RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/bin/${RIME_PLUGINS_DIR})
     if(XCODE_VERSION)
       set_target_properties(${plugin_name} PROPERTIES INSTALL_NAME_DIR "@rpath")
     endif(XCODE_VERSION)
-    install(TARGETS ${plugin_name} DESTINATION ${RIME_PLUGINS_DIR})
+    install(TARGETS ${plugin_name} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_LIBDIR}/${RIME_PLUGINS_DIR})
   endif()
 endforeach(plugin)
 
diff --git a/plugins/plugins_module.cc b/plugins/plugins_module.cc
index 6c191cab9e..8492cfe87e 100644
--- a/plugins/plugins_module.cc
+++ b/plugins/plugins_module.cc
@@ -93,8 +93,35 @@ PluginManager& PluginManager::instance() {
 
 }  // namespace rime
 
+#ifdef _WIN32
+// TODO: implement this when ready to support DLL plugins on Windows.
+inline static rime::path current_module_path() {
+  return rime::path{};
+}
+#else
+#include <dlfcn.h>
+
+inline static rime::path symbol_location(const void* symbol) {
+  Dl_info info;
+  // Some of the libc headers miss `const` in `dladdr(const void*, Dl_info*)`
+  const int res = dladdr(const_cast<void*>(symbol), &info);
+  if (res) {
+    return rime::path{info.dli_fname};
+  } else {
+    return rime::path{};
+  }
+}
+
+inline static rime::path current_module_path() {
+  void rime_require_module_plugins();
+  return symbol_location(
+      reinterpret_cast<const void*>(&rime_require_module_plugins));
+}
+#endif
+
 static void rime_plugins_initialize() {
-  rime::PluginManager::instance().LoadPlugins(rime::path(RIME_PLUGINS_DIR));
+  rime::PluginManager::instance().LoadPlugins(
+      current_module_path().remove_filename() / RIME_PLUGINS_DIR);
 }
 
 static void rime_plugins_finalize() {}