diff --git a/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/internal/PlatformDependent.java b/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/internal/PlatformDependent.java
index 91a265b30e..b7ce81484f 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/internal/PlatformDependent.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/internal/PlatformDependent.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */
 package io.netty.util.internal;
 
+import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
 import io.netty.util.internal.logging.InternalLogger;
 import io.netty.util.internal.logging.InternalLoggerFactory;
 import org.jctools.queues.MpscArrayQueue;
@@ -28,19 +29,28 @@ import org.jctools.queues.atomic.SpscLinkedAtomicQueue;
 import org.jctools.util.Pow2;
 import org.jctools.util.UnsafeAccess;
 
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.ByteOrder;
 import java.security.AccessController;
 import java.security.PrivilegedAction;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Deque;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Queue;
 import java.util.Random;
+import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentLinkedDeque;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
@@ -97,6 +107,10 @@ public final class PlatformDependent {
     private static final String NORMALIZED_ARCH = normalizeArch(SystemPropertyUtil.get("os.arch", ""));
     private static final String NORMALIZED_OS = normalizeOs(SystemPropertyUtil.get("os.name", ""));
 
+    // keep in sync with maven's pom.xml via os.detection.classifierWithLikes!
+    private static final String[] ALLOWED_LINUX_OS_CLASSIFIERS = {"fedora", "suse", "arch"};
+    private static final Set<String> LINUX_OS_CLASSIFIERS;
+
     private static final int ADDRESS_SIZE = addressSize0();
     private static final boolean USE_DIRECT_BUFFER_NO_CLEANER;
     private static final AtomicLong DIRECT_MEMORY_COUNTER;
@@ -196,6 +210,50 @@ public final class PlatformDependent {
                     "Unless explicitly requested, heap buffer will always be preferred to avoid potential system " +
                     "instability.");
         }
+
+        // For specifications, see https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html
+        final String[] OS_RELEASE_FILES = {"/etc/os-release", "/usr/lib/os-release"};
+        final String LINUX_ID_PREFIX = "ID=";
+        final String LINUX_ID_LIKE_PREFIX = "ID_LIKE=";
+        Set<String> allowedClassifiers = new HashSet<String>(Arrays.asList(ALLOWED_LINUX_OS_CLASSIFIERS));
+        allowedClassifiers = Collections.unmodifiableSet(allowedClassifiers);
+        Set<String> availableClassifiers = new LinkedHashSet<String>();
+
+        for (String osReleaseFileName : OS_RELEASE_FILES) {
+            final File file = new File(osReleaseFileName);
+            if (file.exists()) {
+                BufferedReader reader = null;
+                try {
+                    reader = new BufferedReader(
+                            new InputStreamReader(
+                                    new FileInputStream(file), CharsetUtil.UTF_8));
+
+                    String line;
+                    while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
+                        if (line.startsWith(LINUX_ID_PREFIX)) {
+                            String id = normalizeOsReleaseVariableValue(line.substring(LINUX_ID_PREFIX.length()));
+                            addClassifier(allowedClassifiers, availableClassifiers, id);
+                        } else if (line.startsWith(LINUX_ID_LIKE_PREFIX)) {
+                            line = normalizeOsReleaseVariableValue(line.substring(LINUX_ID_LIKE_PREFIX.length()));
+                            addClassifier(allowedClassifiers, availableClassifiers, line.split("[ ]+"));
+                        }
+                    }
+                } catch (IOException ignored) {
+                    // Ignore
+                } finally {
+                    if (reader != null) {
+                        try {
+                            reader.close();
+                        } catch (IOException ignored) {
+                            // Ignore
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                // specification states we should only fall back if /etc/os-release does not exist
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        LINUX_OS_CLASSIFIERS = Collections.unmodifiableSet(availableClassifiers);
     }
 
     public static boolean hasDirectBufferNoCleanerConstructor() {
@@ -1274,6 +1332,30 @@ public final class PlatformDependent {
         return NORMALIZED_OS;
     }
 
+    public static Set<String> normalizedLinuxClassifiers() {
+        return LINUX_OS_CLASSIFIERS;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds only those classifier strings to <tt>dest</tt> which are present in <tt>allowed</tt>.
+     *
+     * @param allowed          allowed classifiers
+     * @param dest             destination set
+     * @param maybeClassifiers potential classifiers to add
+     */
+    private static void addClassifier(Set<String> allowed, Set<String> dest, String... maybeClassifiers) {
+        for (String id : maybeClassifiers) {
+            if (allowed.contains(id)) {
+                dest.add(id);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static String normalizeOsReleaseVariableValue(String value) {
+        // Variable assignment values may be enclosed in double or single quotes.
+        return value.trim().replaceAll("[\"']", "");
+    }
+
     private static String normalize(String value) {
         return value.toLowerCase(Locale.US).replaceAll("[^a-z0-9]+", "");
     }
diff --git a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/OpenSsl.java b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/OpenSsl.java
index 3d40483807..8dbca2b138 100644
--- a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/OpenSsl.java
+++ b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/OpenSsl.java
@@ -552,15 +552,25 @@ public final class OpenSsl {
         String os = PlatformDependent.normalizedOs();
         String arch = PlatformDependent.normalizedArch();
 
-        Set<String> libNames = new LinkedHashSet<String>(4);
+        Set<String> libNames = new LinkedHashSet<String>(5);
         String staticLibName = "netty_tcnative";
 
         // First, try loading the platform-specific library. Platform-specific
         // libraries will be available if using a tcnative uber jar.
-        libNames.add(staticLibName + "_" + os + '_' + arch);
         if ("linux".equalsIgnoreCase(os)) {
-            // Fedora SSL lib so naming (libssl.so.10 vs libssl.so.1.0.0)..
+            Set<String> classifiers = PlatformDependent.normalizedLinuxClassifiers();
+            for (String classifier : classifiers) {
+                libNames.add(staticLibName + "_" + os + '_' + arch + "_" + classifier);
+            }
+            // generic arch-dependent library
+            libNames.add(staticLibName + "_" + os + '_' + arch);
+
+            // Fedora SSL lib so naming (libssl.so.10 vs libssl.so.1.0.0).
+            // note: should already be included from the classifiers but if not, we use this as an
+            //       additional fallback option here
             libNames.add(staticLibName + "_" + os + '_' + arch + "_fedora");
+        } else {
+            libNames.add(staticLibName + "_" + os + '_' + arch);
         }
         libNames.add(staticLibName + "_" + arch);
         libNames.add(staticLibName);
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index fcd1e39422..d82943e7c0 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -296,8 +296,9 @@
     <argLine.javaProperties>-D_</argLine.javaProperties>
     <!-- Configure the os-maven-plugin extension to expand the classifier on                  -->
     <!-- Fedora-"like" systems. This is currently only used for the netty-tcnative dependency -->
-    <os.detection.classifierWithLikes>fedora</os.detection.classifierWithLikes>
     <osmaven.version>1.6.2</osmaven.version>
+    <!-- keep in sync with PlatformDependent#ALLOWED_LINUX_OS_CLASSIFIERS -->
+    <os.detection.classifierWithLikes>fedora,suse,arch</os.detection.classifierWithLikes>
     <tcnative.artifactId>netty-tcnative</tcnative.artifactId>
     <tcnative.version>2.0.25.Final</tcnative.version>
     <tcnative.classifier>${os.detected.classifier}</tcnative.classifier>