diff --git a/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/package.json b/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/package.json
index 5fb485b86fd38..71283df00a8dd 100644
--- a/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/package.json
+++ b/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/package.json
@@ -16,5 +16,8 @@
   "bugs": {
     "url": "https://github.com/elastic/kibana/tree/master/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana"
   },
-  "homepage": "https://github.com/elastic/kibana/tree/master/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana"
+  "homepage": "https://github.com/elastic/kibana/tree/master/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana",
+  "dependencies": {
+    "@kbn/dev-utils": "link:../kbn-dev-utils"
+  }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/react.js b/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/react.js
index f0e05db4d3c60..29000bdb15684 100644
--- a/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/react.js
+++ b/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/react.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-const semver = require('semver')
-const PKG = require('../../package.json')
+const semver = require('semver');
+const { kibanaPackageJson: PKG } = require('@kbn/dev-utils');
 
 module.exports = {
   plugins: [
diff --git a/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/typescript.js b/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/typescript.js
index 11f6d793ae6d0..3876a3ec94b30 100644
--- a/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/typescript.js
+++ b/packages/elastic-eslint-config-kibana/typescript.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 // as this package was moved from typescript-eslint-parser to @typescript-eslint/parser
 
 const semver = require('semver');
-const PKG = require('../../package.json');
+const { kibanaPackageJson: PKG } = require('@kbn/dev-utils');
 
 const eslintConfigPrettierTypescriptEslintRules = require('eslint-config-prettier/@typescript-eslint').rules;
 
diff --git a/packages/kbn-dev-utils/src/plugin_list/generate_plugin_list.ts b/packages/kbn-dev-utils/src/plugin_list/generate_plugin_list.ts
index 127e2a9904a4f..b88382c3b0da4 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-dev-utils/src/plugin_list/generate_plugin_list.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-dev-utils/src/plugin_list/generate_plugin_list.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+import Fs from 'fs';
 import Path from 'path';
 
 import normalizePath from 'normalize-path';
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ NOTE:
     node scripts/build_plugin_list_docs
 
   You can update the template within ${normalizePath(
-    Path.relative(REPO_ROOT, Path.resolve(__dirname, __filename))
+    Path.relative(REPO_ROOT, Fs.realpathSync(Path.resolve(__dirname, __filename)))
   )}
 
 ////
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/integration_tests/basic_optimization.test.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/integration_tests/basic_optimization.test.ts
index 589e6c9c1778e..23b4c09f7a17c 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/integration_tests/basic_optimization.test.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/integration_tests/basic_optimization.test.ts
@@ -150,9 +150,9 @@ it('builds expected bundles, saves bundle counts to metadata', async () => {
 
   expect(bar.cache.getReferencedFiles()).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
     Array [
+      <absolute path>/node_modules/@kbn/optimizer/postcss.config.js,
       <absolute path>/node_modules/css-loader/package.json,
       <absolute path>/node_modules/style-loader/package.json,
-      <absolute path>/packages/kbn-optimizer/postcss.config.js,
       <absolute path>/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/__fixtures__/__tmp__/mock_repo/plugins/bar/kibana.json,
       <absolute path>/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/__fixtures__/__tmp__/mock_repo/plugins/bar/public/index.scss,
       <absolute path>/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/__fixtures__/__tmp__/mock_repo/plugins/bar/public/index.ts,
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/optimizer/observe_worker.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/optimizer/observe_worker.ts
index 87d3ab3a56735..edf4545ae52b3 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/optimizer/observe_worker.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/optimizer/observe_worker.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ function usingWorkerProc<T>(
     (): ProcResource => {
       const proc = execa.node(require.resolve('../worker/run_worker'), [], {
         nodeOptions: [
+          ...process.execArgv,
           ...(inspectFlag && config.inspectWorkers
             ? [`${inspectFlag}=${inspectPortCounter++}`]
             : []),
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack.config.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack.config.ts
index 2ed2c4061fcd4..5532b3a610bbc 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack.config.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack.config.ts
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ export function getWebpackConfig(bundle: Bundle, bundleRefs: BundleRefs, worker:
       alias: {
         core_app_image_assets: Path.resolve(worker.repoRoot, 'src/core/public/core_app/images'),
       },
+      symlinks: false,
     },
 
     performance: {
diff --git a/packages/kbn-pm/webpack.config.js b/packages/kbn-pm/webpack.config.js
index 1f28b95915910..bb71aa9717f16 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-pm/webpack.config.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-pm/webpack.config.js
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ module.exports = {
 
   resolve: {
     extensions: ['.ts', '.js'],
+    symlinks: false,
   },
 
   module: {
diff --git a/packages/kbn-test/src/functional_tests/lib/paths.js b/packages/kbn-test/src/functional_tests/lib/paths.js
index 99277d040ffdc..0bdfa8a312ea5 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-test/src/functional_tests/lib/paths.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-test/src/functional_tests/lib/paths.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+import { REPO_ROOT } from '@kbn/utils';
 import { resolve, relative } from 'path';
 
 // resolve() treats relative paths as relative to process.cwd(),
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ function resolveRelative(path) {
 
 export const KIBANA_EXEC = 'node';
 export const KIBANA_EXEC_PATH = resolveRelative('scripts/kibana');
-export const KIBANA_ROOT = resolve(__dirname, '../../../../../');
+export const KIBANA_ROOT = REPO_ROOT;
 export const KIBANA_FTR_SCRIPT = resolve(KIBANA_ROOT, 'scripts/functional_test_runner');
 export const PROJECT_ROOT = resolve(__dirname, '../../../../../../');
 export const FUNCTIONAL_CONFIG_PATH = resolve(KIBANA_ROOT, 'test/functional/config');
diff --git a/packages/kbn-test/src/functional_tests/lib/run_kibana_server.js b/packages/kbn-test/src/functional_tests/lib/run_kibana_server.js
index a43d3a09c7d70..4abbc3d29fe7c 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-test/src/functional_tests/lib/run_kibana_server.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-test/src/functional_tests/lib/run_kibana_server.js
@@ -62,11 +62,15 @@ function collectCliArgs(config, { installDir, extraKbnOpts }) {
   const buildArgs = config.get('kbnTestServer.buildArgs') || [];
   const sourceArgs = config.get('kbnTestServer.sourceArgs') || [];
   const serverArgs = config.get('kbnTestServer.serverArgs') || [];
+  const execArgv = process.execArgv || [];
 
   return pipe(
     serverArgs,
     (args) => (installDir ? args.filter((a) => a !== '--oss') : args),
-    (args) => (installDir ? [...buildArgs, ...args] : [KIBANA_EXEC_PATH, ...sourceArgs, ...args]),
+    (args) =>
+      installDir
+        ? [...buildArgs, ...args]
+        : [...execArgv, KIBANA_EXEC_PATH, ...sourceArgs, ...args],
     (args) => args.concat(extraKbnOpts || [])
   );
 }
diff --git a/packages/kbn-test/src/legacy_es/es_test_config.js b/packages/kbn-test/src/legacy_es/es_test_config.js
index 2aff2d04a05a9..151587d95ca2f 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-test/src/legacy_es/es_test_config.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-test/src/legacy_es/es_test_config.js
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+import { kibanaPackageJson as pkg } from '@kbn/dev-utils';
 import url, { format as formatUrl } from 'url';
-import pkg from '../../../../package.json';
 import { adminTestUser } from '../kbn';
 
 export const esTestConfig = new (class EsTestConfig {
diff --git a/packages/kbn-test/src/mocha/junit_report_generation.js b/packages/kbn-test/src/mocha/junit_report_generation.js
index e68544eca5522..f662e9ccccb25 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-test/src/mocha/junit_report_generation.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-test/src/mocha/junit_report_generation.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+import { REPO_ROOT } from '@kbn/utils';
 import { dirname, relative } from 'path';
 import { writeFileSync, mkdirSync } from 'fs';
 import { inspect } from 'util';
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ const dateNow = Date.now.bind(Date);
 export function setupJUnitReportGeneration(runner, options = {}) {
   const {
     reportName = 'Unnamed Mocha Tests',
-    rootDirectory = dirname(require.resolve('../../../../package.json')),
+    rootDirectory = REPO_ROOT,
     getTestMetadata = () => ({}),
   } = options;
 
diff --git a/packages/kbn-ui-shared-deps/webpack.config.js b/packages/kbn-ui-shared-deps/webpack.config.js
index cc761dae3bfe9..7a996e98762ce 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-ui-shared-deps/webpack.config.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-ui-shared-deps/webpack.config.js
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ exports.getWebpackConfig = ({ dev = false } = {}) => ({
       moment: MOMENT_SRC,
     },
     extensions: ['.js', '.ts'],
+    symlinks: false,
   },
 
   optimization: {
diff --git a/packages/kbn-utils/src/repo_root.ts b/packages/kbn-utils/src/repo_root.ts
index e8ad07acf4882..20a25023f4166 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-utils/src/repo_root.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-utils/src/repo_root.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
  */
 
 import Path from 'path';
-import Fs from 'fs';
 
 import loadJsonFile from 'load-json-file';
 
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ const findKibanaPackageJson = () => {
   // search for the kibana directory, since this file is moved around it might
   // not be where we think but should always be a relatively close parent
   // of this directory
-  const startDir = Fs.realpathSync(__dirname);
+  const startDir = __dirname;
   const { root: rootDir } = Path.parse(startDir);
   let cursor = startDir;
   while (true) {
diff --git a/scripts/build_kibana_platform_plugins.js b/scripts/build_kibana_platform_plugins.js
index 809e21bc652d0..fa630e0bb1808 100644
--- a/scripts/build_kibana_platform_plugins.js
+++ b/scripts/build_kibana_platform_plugins.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+require('../src/setup_node_env/ensure_node_preserve_symlinks');
 require('@kbn/optimizer').runKbnOptimizerCli({
   defaultLimitsPath: require.resolve('../packages/kbn-optimizer/limits.yml'),
 });
diff --git a/scripts/jest.js b/scripts/jest.js
index 48d202994c139..0ff6a0dcf5373 100755
--- a/scripts/jest.js
+++ b/scripts/jest.js
@@ -6,4 +6,5 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+require('../src/setup_node_env/ensure_node_preserve_symlinks');
 require('@kbn/test').runJest();
diff --git a/scripts/jest_integration.js b/scripts/jest_integration.js
index a1851e039f45c..7332f368b31e2 100755
--- a/scripts/jest_integration.js
+++ b/scripts/jest_integration.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+require('../src/setup_node_env/ensure_node_preserve_symlinks');
 process.argv.push('--runInBand');
 
 require('@kbn/test').runJest('jest.config.integration.js');
diff --git a/scripts/kbn.js b/scripts/kbn.js
index 3536157656b59..f384c13a3acfc 100644
--- a/scripts/kbn.js
+++ b/scripts/kbn.js
@@ -6,5 +6,6 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+require('../src/setup_node_env/ensure_node_preserve_symlinks');
 require('../src/setup_node_env/node_version_validator');
 require('../packages/kbn-pm/cli');
diff --git a/scripts/precommit_hook.js b/scripts/precommit_hook.js
index 17ce14af50273..1a4176bf142a0 100644
--- a/scripts/precommit_hook.js
+++ b/scripts/precommit_hook.js
@@ -6,5 +6,6 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+require('../src/setup_node_env/ensure_node_preserve_symlinks');
 require('@kbn/optimizer').registerNodeAutoTranspilation();
 require('../src/dev/run_precommit_hook');
diff --git a/scripts/test_hardening.js b/scripts/test_hardening.js
index cc058d742751d..a719d77c517ee 100644
--- a/scripts/test_hardening.js
+++ b/scripts/test_hardening.js
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+require('../src/setup_node_env/ensure_node_preserve_symlinks');
+
 var execFileSync = require('child_process').execFileSync;
 var path = require('path');
 var syncGlob = require('glob').sync;
diff --git a/src/dev/cli_dev_mode/dev_server.test.ts b/src/dev/cli_dev_mode/dev_server.test.ts
index d29e6eb04cb92..c296c7caca63a 100644
--- a/src/dev/cli_dev_mode/dev_server.test.ts
+++ b/src/dev/cli_dev_mode/dev_server.test.ts
@@ -122,7 +122,10 @@ describe('#run$', () => {
               "ELASTIC_APM_SERVICE_NAME": "kibana",
               "isDevCliChild": "true",
             },
-            "nodeOptions": Array [],
+            "nodeOptions": Array [
+              "--preserve-symlinks-main",
+              "--preserve-symlinks",
+            ],
             "stdio": "pipe",
           },
         ],
diff --git a/src/setup_node_env/ensure_node_preserve_symlinks.js b/src/setup_node_env/ensure_node_preserve_symlinks.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0d72ec85e6c87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/setup_node_env/ensure_node_preserve_symlinks.js
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License
+ * 2.0 and the Server Side Public License, v 1; you may not use this file except
+ * in compliance with, at your election, the Elastic License 2.0 or the Server
+ * Side Public License, v 1.
+ */
+
+(function () {
+  var cp = require('child_process');
+
+  var preserveSymlinksOption = '--preserve-symlinks';
+  var preserveSymlinksMainOption = '--preserve-symlinks-main';
+  var nodeOptions = (process && process.env && process.env.NODE_OPTIONS) || [];
+  var nodeExecArgv = (process && process.execArgv) || [];
+
+  var isPreserveSymlinksPresent =
+    nodeOptions.includes(preserveSymlinksOption) || nodeExecArgv.includes(preserveSymlinksOption);
+  var isPreserveSymlinksMainPresent =
+    nodeOptions.includes(preserveSymlinksMainOption) ||
+    nodeExecArgv.includes(preserveSymlinksMainOption);
+
+  if (isPreserveSymlinksPresent && isPreserveSymlinksMainPresent) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  var nodeArgv = (process && process.argv) || [];
+  var isFirstArgNode = nodeArgv.length > 0 && nodeArgv[0].includes('node') ? nodeArgv[0] : null;
+  if (!isFirstArgNode) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  var missingNodeArgs = [];
+  if (!isPreserveSymlinksMainPresent) {
+    missingNodeArgs.push(preserveSymlinksMainOption);
+  }
+
+  if (!isPreserveSymlinksPresent) {
+    missingNodeArgs.push(preserveSymlinksOption);
+  }
+
+  var nodeArgs = nodeExecArgv.concat(missingNodeArgs);
+  var restArgs = nodeArgv.length >= 2 ? nodeArgv.slice(1, nodeArgv.length) : [];
+
+  var getExitCodeFromSpawnResult = function (spawnResult) {
+    if (spawnResult.status !== null) {
+      return spawnResult.status;
+    }
+
+    if (spawnResult.signal !== null) {
+      return 128 + spawnResult.signal;
+    }
+
+    if (spawnResult.error) {
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+  };
+
+  var spawnResult = cp.spawnSync(nodeArgv[0], nodeArgs.concat(restArgs), { stdio: 'inherit' });
+  process.exit(getExitCodeFromSpawnResult(spawnResult));
+})();
diff --git a/src/setup_node_env/no_transpilation.js b/src/setup_node_env/no_transpilation.js
index c52eba70f4ad3..1826f5bb0297d 100644
--- a/src/setup_node_env/no_transpilation.js
+++ b/src/setup_node_env/no_transpilation.js
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
+require('./ensure_node_preserve_symlinks');
+
 // The following require statements MUST be executed before any others - BEGIN
 require('./exit_on_warning');
 require('./harden');
diff --git a/tsconfig.base.json b/tsconfig.base.json
index 865806cffe5bb..5220601e794b0 100644
--- a/tsconfig.base.json
+++ b/tsconfig.base.json
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
     // Resolve modules in the same way as Node.js. Aka make `require` works the
     // same in TypeScript as it does in Node.js.
     "moduleResolution": "node",
+    // Do not resolve the real path of symlinks
+    "preserveSymlinks": true,
     // "resolveJsonModule" allows for importing, extracting types from and generating .json files.
     "resolveJsonModule": true,
     // Disallow inconsistently-cased references to the same file.
diff --git a/x-pack/package.json b/x-pack/package.json
index 3c8b3c1d83906..9cd4995bbeddc 100644
--- a/x-pack/package.json
+++ b/x-pack/package.json
@@ -9,9 +9,7 @@
     "kbn": "node ../scripts/kbn",
     "kbn:bootstrap": "node plugins/canvas/scripts/storybook --clean",
     "start": "node ../scripts/kibana --dev",
-    "build": "../node_modules/.bin/gulp build",
-    "testonly": "echo 'Deprecated, use `yarn test`'",
-    "test": "../node_modules/.bin/gulp test",
+    "build": "node --preserve-symlinks ../node_modules/.bin/gulp build",
     "test:jest": "node ../scripts/jest"
   },
   "kibana": {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/apm/e2e/cypress/webpack.config.js b/x-pack/plugins/apm/e2e/cypress/webpack.config.js
index d22e947515db8..afeb527cd6b08 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/apm/e2e/cypress/webpack.config.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/apm/e2e/cypress/webpack.config.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 module.exports = {
   resolve: {
     extensions: ['.ts', '.js'],
+    symlinks: false,
   },
   node: { fs: 'empty', child_process: 'empty', readline: 'empty' },
   module: {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/canvas/shareable_runtime/webpack.config.js b/x-pack/plugins/canvas/shareable_runtime/webpack.config.js
index 91df495d1552d..34fade58ffc8d 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/canvas/shareable_runtime/webpack.config.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/canvas/shareable_runtime/webpack.config.js
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ module.exports = {
       core_app_image_assets: path.resolve(KIBANA_ROOT, 'src/core/public/core_app/images'),
     },
     extensions: ['.js', '.json', '.ts', '.tsx', '.scss'],
+    symlinks: false,
   },
   module: {
     rules: [
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/canvas/storybook/webpack.config.js b/x-pack/plugins/canvas/storybook/webpack.config.js
index 0523680148b04..77b8d343a2bea 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/canvas/storybook/webpack.config.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/canvas/storybook/webpack.config.js
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ module.exports = async ({ config: storybookConfig }) => {
           '../tasks/mocks/uiAbsoluteToParsedUrl'
         ),
       },
+      symlinks: false,
     },
   };
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/canvas/storybook/webpack.dll.config.js b/x-pack/plugins/canvas/storybook/webpack.dll.config.js
index 5c474ddebfa5f..3051bbebdaf0c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/canvas/storybook/webpack.dll.config.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/canvas/storybook/webpack.dll.config.js
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ module.exports = {
     alias: {
       ui: path.resolve(KIBANA_ROOT, 'src/legacy/ui/public'),
     },
+    symlinks: false,
   },
   module: {
     rules: [
diff --git a/x-pack/tasks/build.ts b/x-pack/tasks/build.ts
index 4b6bc29284748..1b52b073b3cef 100644
--- a/x-pack/tasks/build.ts
+++ b/x-pack/tasks/build.ts
@@ -94,12 +94,16 @@ async function copySourceAndBabelify() {
 }
 
 async function buildCanvasShareableRuntime() {
-  await execa(process.execPath, ['plugins/canvas/scripts/shareable_runtime'], {
-    cwd: XPACK_DIR,
-    stdio: ['ignore', 'inherit', 'inherit'],
-    // @ts-ignore Incorrect @types - execa supports `buffer`
-    buffer: false,
-  });
+  await execa(
+    process.execPath,
+    ['--preserve-symlinks', 'plugins/canvas/scripts/shareable_runtime'],
+    {
+      cwd: XPACK_DIR,
+      stdio: ['ignore', 'inherit', 'inherit'],
+      // @ts-ignore Incorrect @types - execa supports `buffer`
+      buffer: false,
+    }
+  );
 }
 
 async function generateNoticeText() {