diff --git a/mlir/lib/ExecutionEngine/JitRunner.cpp b/mlir/lib/ExecutionEngine/JitRunner.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/ExecutionEngine/JitRunner.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/ExecutionEngine/JitRunner.cpp
@@ -158,9 +158,6 @@
   // If shared library implements custom mlir-runner library init and destroy
   // functions, we'll use them to register the library with the execution
   // engine. Otherwise we'll pass library directly to the execution engine.
-  SmallVector<StringRef, 4> libs(options.clSharedLibs.begin(),
-                                 options.clSharedLibs.end());
-
   // Libraries that we'll pass to the ExecutionEngine for loading.
   SmallVector<StringRef, 4> executionEngineLibs;
 
@@ -171,14 +168,17 @@
   SmallVector<MlirRunnerDestroyFn> destroyFns;
 
   // Handle libraries that do support mlir-runner init/destroy callbacks.
-  for (auto libPath : libs) {
-    auto lib = llvm::sys::DynamicLibrary::getPermanentLibrary(libPath.data());
+  for (auto libPath : options.clSharedLibs) {
+    SmallString<256> absPath(libPath.begin(), libPath.end());
+    // Use absolute library path so that gdb can find the symbol table.
+    llvm::sys::fs::make_absolute(absPath);
+    auto lib = llvm::sys::DynamicLibrary::getPermanentLibrary(absPath.data());
     void *initSym = lib.getAddressOfSymbol("__mlir_runner_init");
     void *destroySim = lib.getAddressOfSymbol("__mlir_runner_destroy");
 
     // Library does not support mlir runner, load it with ExecutionEngine.
     if (!initSym || !destroySim) {
-      executionEngineLibs.push_back(libPath);
+      executionEngineLibs.push_back(absPath);
       continue;
     }