diff --git a/compiler/rustc_driver_impl/src/lib.rs b/compiler/rustc_driver_impl/src/lib.rs
index 2f1c78197275d..1d7971b8d5d9d 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_driver_impl/src/lib.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_driver_impl/src/lib.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 //! This API is completely unstable and subject to change.
 
 #![doc(html_root_url = "https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/")]
+#![feature(absolute_path)]
 #![feature(lazy_cell)]
 #![feature(decl_macro)]
 #![recursion_limit = "256"]
@@ -303,7 +304,11 @@ fn run_compiler(
         registry: diagnostics_registry(),
     };
 
-    match make_input(config.opts.error_format, &matches.free) {
+    match make_input(
+        config.opts.error_format,
+        &matches.free,
+        config.opts.unstable_opts.absolute_file_paths,
+    ) {
         Err(reported) => return Err(reported),
         Ok(Some(input)) => {
             config.input = input;
@@ -476,6 +481,7 @@ fn make_output(matches: &getopts::Matches) -> (Option<PathBuf>, Option<OutFileNa
 fn make_input(
     error_format: ErrorOutputType,
     free_matches: &[String],
+    absolute_file_paths: bool,
 ) -> Result<Option<Input>, ErrorGuaranteed> {
     if free_matches.len() == 1 {
         let ifile = &free_matches[0];
@@ -503,7 +509,19 @@ fn make_input(
                 Ok(Some(Input::Str { name: FileName::anon_source_code(&src), input: src }))
             }
         } else {
-            Ok(Some(Input::File(PathBuf::from(ifile))))
+            let mut path = PathBuf::from(ifile);
+            if absolute_file_paths {
+                match std::path::absolute(path) {
+                    Ok(p) => path = p,
+                    Err(e) => {
+                        return Err(early_error_no_abort(
+                            error_format,
+                            format!("failed to convert {ifile} to an absolute path: {e}"),
+                        ));
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            Ok(Some(Input::File(path)))
         }
     } else {
         Ok(None)
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_interface/src/tests.rs b/compiler/rustc_interface/src/tests.rs
index 9d0c9ec974231..748abe7ef0e5e 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_interface/src/tests.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_interface/src/tests.rs
@@ -657,6 +657,7 @@ fn test_unstable_options_tracking_hash() {
 
     // Make sure that changing an [UNTRACKED] option leaves the hash unchanged.
     // tidy-alphabetical-start
+    untracked!(absolute_file_paths, true);
     untracked!(assert_incr_state, Some(String::from("loaded")));
     untracked!(deduplicate_diagnostics, false);
     untracked!(dep_tasks, true);
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_session/src/options.rs b/compiler/rustc_session/src/options.rs
index edf95949d3234..175868cdc202c 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_session/src/options.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_session/src/options.rs
@@ -1352,6 +1352,8 @@ options! {
     // - src/doc/unstable-book/src/compiler-flags
 
     // tidy-alphabetical-start
+    absolute_file_paths: bool = (false, parse_bool, [UNTRACKED],
+        "use absolute file paths in diagnostics, not relative paths (default: no)"),
     allow_features: Option<Vec<String>> = (None, parse_opt_comma_list, [TRACKED],
         "only allow the listed language features to be enabled in code (comma separated)"),
     always_encode_mir: bool = (false, parse_bool, [TRACKED],
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py b/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py
index 473fdbe1edc27..95ecc3efdc656 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py
+++ b/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py
@@ -474,6 +474,7 @@ def __init__(self):
         self.verbose = False
         self.git_version = None
         self.nix_deps_dir = None
+        self.local_rebuild = False
         self._should_fix_bins_and_dylibs = None
 
     def download_toolchain(self):
@@ -894,6 +895,10 @@ def build_bootstrap(self, color, warnings, verbose_count):
         if target_linker is not None:
             env["RUSTFLAGS"] += " -C linker=" + target_linker
         env["RUSTFLAGS"] += " -Wrust_2018_idioms -Wunused_lifetimes"
+        # Make sure that rust-analyzer can map error diagnostics to the file.
+        # cfg(bootstrap)
+        if self.local_rebuild:
+            env["RUSTFLAGS"] += " -Zabsolute-file-paths"
         if warnings == "default":
             deny_warnings = self.get_toml("deny-warnings", "rust") != "false"
         else:
@@ -1054,6 +1059,17 @@ def bootstrap(args):
     if not os.path.exists(build.build_dir):
         os.makedirs(build.build_dir)
 
+    build.local_rebuild = build.get_toml("local_rebuild", "build")
+    if build.local_rebuild is None and not build.rustc().startswith(build.bin_root()):
+        with open(os.path.join(build.rust_root, "src", "version")) as f:
+            expected_version = f.read().split(".")[:2]
+        output = require([build.rustc(), "--version"]).decode(sys.getdefaultencoding())
+        actual_version = output.split(" ")[1].split(".")[:2]
+        if expected_version == actual_version:
+            if build.verbose:
+                print("auto-detected local-rebuild {}".format(actual_version))
+            build.local_rebuild = True
+
     # Fetch/build the bootstrap
     build.download_toolchain()
     sys.stdout.flush()
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/builder.rs b/src/bootstrap/builder.rs
index 7c8e3536df588..913ab12ec4e9d 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/builder.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/builder.rs
@@ -1392,6 +1392,11 @@ impl<'a> Builder<'a> {
         // cargo would implicitly add it, it was discover that sometimes bootstrap only use
         // `rustflags` without `cargo` making it required.
         rustflags.arg("-Zunstable-options");
+        // Make ctrl+click, etc. work with workspaces other than the root workspace.
+        // cfg(bootstrap)
+        if stage > 0 {
+            rustflags.arg("-Zabsolute-file-paths");
+        }
         for (restricted_mode, name, values) in EXTRA_CHECK_CFGS {
             if *restricted_mode == None || *restricted_mode == Some(mode) {
                 // Creating a string of the values by concatenating each value:
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/lib.rs b/src/bootstrap/lib.rs
index d7e77aeb338f6..4602daf256e26 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/lib.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/lib.rs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ use once_cell::sync::OnceCell;
 use crate::builder::Kind;
 use crate::config::{LlvmLibunwind, TargetSelection};
 use crate::util::{
-    exe, libdir, mtime, output, run, run_suppressed, symlink_dir, try_run_suppressed,
+    absolute, exe, libdir, mtime, output, run, run_suppressed, symlink_dir, try_run_suppressed,
 };
 
 mod bolt;
@@ -426,8 +426,9 @@ impl Build {
         }
 
         let mut build = Build {
-            initial_rustc: config.initial_rustc.clone(),
-            initial_cargo: config.initial_cargo.clone(),
+            // Use absolute paths for these to allow setting them to e.g. build/host/stage1
+            initial_rustc: absolute(&config.initial_rustc),
+            initial_cargo: absolute(&config.initial_cargo),
             initial_lld,
             initial_libdir,
             initial_sysroot: initial_sysroot.into(),
diff --git a/src/doc/unstable-book/src/compiler-flags/absolute-file-paths.md b/src/doc/unstable-book/src/compiler-flags/absolute-file-paths.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..74e74f3662ca0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/doc/unstable-book/src/compiler-flags/absolute-file-paths.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# `absolute-file-paths`
+
+This features is currently perma-unstable, with no tracking issue.
+
+------------------------
+
+This feature allows you to configure rustc to print diagnostics and other output using absolute file paths, not relative file paths.
+
+Set `-Zabsolute-file-paths` to enable this feature.