diff --git a/LibOS/shim/src/shim_init.c b/LibOS/shim/src/shim_init.c
index 94cca41a..4139b58c 100644
--- a/LibOS/shim/src/shim_init.c
+++ b/LibOS/shim/src/shim_init.c
@@ -326,10 +326,20 @@ static int populate_user_stack (void * stack, size_t stack_size,
 
     new_argv = stack_bottom;
     while (argv) {
+        /* Even though the SysV ABI does not specify the order of argv strings,
+           some applications (notably Node.js's libuv) assume the compact
+           encoding of argv where (1) all strings are located adjacently and
+           (2) in increasing order. */
+        int argv_size = 0;
+        for (const char ** a = argv ; *a ; a++)
+            argv_size += strlen(*a) + 1;
+        char * argv_bottom = ALLOCATE_TOP(argv_size);
+
         for (const char ** a = argv ; *a ; a++) {
             const char ** t = ALLOCATE_BOTTOM(sizeof(const char *));
             int len = strlen(*a) + 1;
-            char * abuf = ALLOCATE_TOP(len);
+            char * abuf = argv_bottom;
+            argv_bottom += len;
             memcpy(abuf, *a, len);
             *t = abuf;
         }
diff --git a/LibOS/shim/test/regression/bootstrap.c b/LibOS/shim/test/regression/bootstrap.c
index 7c479277..6689a3ca 100644
--- a/LibOS/shim/test/regression/bootstrap.c
+++ b/LibOS/shim/test/regression/bootstrap.c
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 int main(int argc, const char** argv, const char** envp) {
     printf("User Program Started\n");
@@ -9,5 +10,18 @@ int main(int argc, const char** argv, const char** envp) {
         printf("argv[%d] = %s\n", i, argv[i]);
     }
 
+    /* Make sure argv strings follow the compact encoding where (1) all strings
+       are located adjacently and (2) in increasing order. */
+    size_t sum_len = 0;
+    for (int i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
+        sum_len += strlen(argv[i]) + 1;
+    }
+
+    size_t chunk_len = argv[argc - 1] + strlen(argv[argc - 1]) - argv[0];
+    if (sum_len != chunk_len + 1) {
+        printf("argv strings are not adjacent or not in increasing order\n");
+        return 1;
+    }
+
     return 0;
 }