diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e2ff80ebc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+.git
+release
+depends/built
+depends/work
+depends/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
+depends/x86_64-w64-mingw32
+src/RandomX/build
+src/*.o
+src/*.a
+src/*.la
+src/*.lo
+src/.libs
+src/.deps
+src/univalue/.libs
+src/univalue/.deps
+src/cc/*.o
+src/cc/*.a
+src/dragonxd
+src/dragonx-cli
+src/dragonx-tx
+src/dragonxd.exe
+src/dragonx-cli.exe
+src/dragonx-tx.exe
+sapling-output.params
+sapling-spend.params
+config.status
+config.log
diff --git a/Dockerfile.compat b/Dockerfile.compat
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..27a4a3b0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile.compat
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+FROM ubuntu:20.04
+
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    build-essential pkg-config libc6-dev m4 g++-multilib autoconf libtool \
+    ncurses-dev unzip python3 zlib1g-dev wget bsdmainutils automake cmake \
+    libcurl4-openssl-dev curl git binutils \
+    && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+WORKDIR /build
+COPY . /build/
+
+# Clean host-built depends and src artifacts to force full rebuild inside container
+RUN rm -rf /build/depends/built /build/depends/work \
+    /build/depends/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu \
+    /build/depends/x86_64-w64-mingw32 \
+    /build/src/RandomX/build \
+    && find /build/src -name '*.o' -o -name '*.a' -o -name '*.la' -o -name '*.lo' \
+       -o -name '*.lai' | xargs rm -f \
+    && rm -rf /build/src/univalue/.libs /build/src/univalue/.deps \
+    && rm -rf /build/src/.libs /build/src/.deps \
+    && rm -rf /build/src/cc/*.o /build/src/cc/*.a \
+    && rm -f /build/config.status /build/config.log
+
+RUN cd /build && ./util/build.sh --disable-tests -j$(nproc)
+
+# Strip binaries inside the container so extracted files are already small
+RUN strip /build/src/dragonxd /build/src/dragonx-cli /build/src/dragonx-tx
+
+CMD ["/bin/bash"]
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 53e1556ce..29fb86fd2 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ RELEASE_DIR="$SCRIPT_DIR/release"
 BUILD_LINUX_RELEASE=0
 BUILD_WIN_RELEASE=0
 BUILD_MAC_RELEASE=0
+BUILD_LINUX_COMPAT=0
 REMAINING_ARGS=()
 
 for arg in "$@"; do
@@ -21,6 +22,9 @@ for arg in "$@"; do
         --linux-release)
             BUILD_LINUX_RELEASE=1
             ;;
+        --linux-compat)
+            BUILD_LINUX_COMPAT=1
+            ;;
         --win-release)
             BUILD_WIN_RELEASE=1
             ;;
@@ -110,8 +114,59 @@ package_release() {
 }
 
 # Handle release builds
-if [ $BUILD_LINUX_RELEASE -eq 1 ] || [ $BUILD_WIN_RELEASE -eq 1 ] || [ $BUILD_MAC_RELEASE -eq 1 ]; then
+if [ $BUILD_LINUX_COMPAT -eq 1 ] || [ $BUILD_LINUX_RELEASE -eq 1 ] || [ $BUILD_WIN_RELEASE -eq 1 ] || [ $BUILD_MAC_RELEASE -eq 1 ]; then
     mkdir -p "$RELEASE_DIR"
+
+    if [ $BUILD_LINUX_COMPAT -eq 1 ]; then
+        echo "=== Building Linux compat release (Ubuntu 20.04 via Docker) ==="
+        if ! command -v docker &>/dev/null; then
+            echo "Error: docker is required for --linux-compat builds"
+            exit 1
+        fi
+
+        # Use sudo for docker if the user isn't in the docker group
+        DOCKER_CMD="docker"
+        if ! docker info &>/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            echo "Note: Using sudo for docker (add yourself to the docker group to avoid this)"
+            DOCKER_CMD="sudo docker"
+        fi
+
+        DOCKER_IMAGE="dragonx-compat-builder"
+        COMPAT_PLATFORM="linux-amd64-ubuntu2004"
+        COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR="$RELEASE_DIR/dragonx-$VERSION-$COMPAT_PLATFORM"
+
+        echo "Building Docker image (Ubuntu 20.04 base)..."
+        $DOCKER_CMD build -f Dockerfile.compat -t "$DOCKER_IMAGE" .
+
+        echo "Extracting binaries from Docker image..."
+        CONTAINER_ID=$($DOCKER_CMD create "$DOCKER_IMAGE")
+        mkdir -p "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR"
+
+        for bin in dragonxd dragonx-cli dragonx-tx; do
+            $DOCKER_CMD cp "$CONTAINER_ID:/build/src/$bin" "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR/$bin"
+        done
+        $DOCKER_CMD rm "$CONTAINER_ID" >/dev/null
+
+        # Fix ownership (docker cp creates root-owned files)
+        # Binaries are already stripped inside the Docker container
+        if [ "$(stat -c '%U' "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR/dragonxd")" = "root" ]; then
+            sudo chown "$(id -u):$(id -g)" "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR"/dragonx*
+        fi
+
+        # Copy common files
+        cp "$SCRIPT_DIR/util/bootstrap-dragonx.sh" "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR/"
+        cp "$SCRIPT_DIR/contrib/asmap/asmap.dat" "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR/" 2>/dev/null || true
+        cp "$SCRIPT_DIR/sapling-output.params" "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR/" 2>/dev/null || true
+        cp "$SCRIPT_DIR/sapling-spend.params" "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR/" 2>/dev/null || true
+
+        echo "Compat release packaged: $COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR"
+        ls -la "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR"
+
+        # Show glibc version requirement
+        echo ""
+        echo "Binary compatibility info:"
+        objdump -T "$COMPAT_RELEASE_DIR/dragonxd" | grep -oP 'GLIBC_\d+\.\d+' | sort -uV | tail -1 && echo "(max GLIBC version required)"
+    fi
     
     if [ $BUILD_LINUX_RELEASE -eq 1 ]; then
         echo "=== Building Linux release ==="