diff --git a/src/ILLink.Substitutions.ios.xml b/src/ILLink.Substitutions.ios.xml
index b14bda1595..fc0689edbd 100644
--- a/src/ILLink.Substitutions.ios.xml
+++ b/src/ILLink.Substitutions.ios.xml
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 <linker>
   <assembly fullname="Xamarin.iOS">
+    <type fullname="ObjCRuntime.Dlfcn">
+      <method signature="System.Void WarnOnce()" body="stub" feature="System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsSupported" featurevalue="false" />
+    </type>
     <type fullname="ObjCRuntime.Runtime">
       <method signature="System.Boolean get_IsCoreCLR()" body="stub" value="false" />
     </type>
diff --git a/src/ILLink.Substitutions.tvos.xml b/src/ILLink.Substitutions.tvos.xml
index 2212cc5448..c74fa9685e 100644
--- a/src/ILLink.Substitutions.tvos.xml
+++ b/src/ILLink.Substitutions.tvos.xml
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 <linker>
   <assembly fullname="Xamarin.TVOS">
+    <type fullname="ObjCRuntime.Dlfcn">
+      <method signature="System.Void WarnOnce()" body="stub" feature="System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsSupported" featurevalue="false" />
+    </type>
     <type fullname="ObjCRuntime.Runtime">
       <method signature="System.Boolean get_IsCoreCLR()" body="stub" value="false" />
     </type>
diff --git a/src/ObjCRuntime/Dlfcn.cs b/src/ObjCRuntime/Dlfcn.cs
index 9826b2d450..4a96172152 100644
--- a/src/ObjCRuntime/Dlfcn.cs
+++ b/src/ObjCRuntime/Dlfcn.cs
@@ -49,20 +49,20 @@ namespace ObjCRuntime {
 	static partial class Libraries {
 #if !COREBUILD
 		static public class System {
-			static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn.dlopen (Constants.libSystemLibrary, 0);
+			static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn._dlopen (Constants.libSystemLibrary, 0);
 		}
 		static public class LibC {
-			static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn.dlopen (Constants.libcLibrary, 0);
+			static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn._dlopen (Constants.libcLibrary, 0);
 		}
 #if HAS_OPENGLES
 		static public class OpenGLES
 		{
-			static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn.dlopen (Constants.OpenGLESLibrary, 0);
+			static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn._dlopen (Constants.OpenGLESLibrary, 0);
 		}
 #endif
 #if !WATCH
 		static public class AudioToolbox {
-			static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn.dlopen (Constants.AudioToolboxLibrary, 0);
+			static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn._dlopen (Constants.AudioToolboxLibrary, 0);
 		}
 #endif
 #endif
@@ -98,10 +98,18 @@ namespace ObjCRuntime {
 
 		public static IntPtr dlopen (string path, int mode)
 		{
-			return dlopen (path, mode, true);
+			return dlopen (path, mode, showWarning: true);
 		}
 
 		static bool warningShown;
+		// the linker can eliminate the body of this method (and the above static variable) on release builds
+		static void WarnOnce ()
+		{
+			if (!warningShown)
+				Runtime.NSLog ("You are using dlopen without a full path, retrying by prepending /usr/lib");
+			warningShown = true;
+		}
+
 		internal static IntPtr dlopen (string path, int mode, bool showWarning)
 		{
 			var x = _dlopen (path, mode);
@@ -112,14 +120,9 @@ namespace ObjCRuntime {
 			// In iOS >= 9, this fails with:
 			// "no cache image with name (<top>)"
 			if (path.IndexOf ('/') == -1){
-				if (!warningShown && showWarning) {
-					Runtime.NSLog ("You are using dlopen without a full path, retrying by prepending /usr/lib");
-					warningShown = true;
-				}
-				
-				x = _dlopen ("/usr/lib/" + path, mode);
-				if (x != IntPtr.Zero)
-					return x;
+				if (showWarning)
+					WarnOnce ();
+				return dlopen ("/usr/lib/" + path, mode, false);
 			}
 			return IntPtr.Zero;
 		}
diff --git a/src/generator.cs b/src/generator.cs
index 61291bea58..4517b6d2b8 100644
--- a/src/generator.cs
+++ b/src/generator.cs
@@ -2745,8 +2745,12 @@ public partial class Generator : IMemberGatherer {
 				print ("static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn.dlopen (null, 0);");
 			} else if (BindThirdPartyLibrary && library_path != null && IsNotSystemLibrary (library_name)) {
 				print ($"static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn.dlopen (\"{library_path}\", 0);");
-			} else {
+			} else if (BindThirdPartyLibrary) {
 				print ("static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn.dlopen (Constants.{0}Library, 0);", library_name);
+			} else {
+				// Skip the path check that our managed `dlopen` method does
+				// This is not required since the path is checked by `IsNotSystemLibrary`
+				print ("static public readonly IntPtr Handle = Dlfcn._dlopen (Constants.{0}Library, 0);", library_name);
 			}
 			indent--; print ("}");
 		}