diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
index 155e190597..5d62d597cb 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
@@ -175,5 +175,5 @@
 from spack.util.executable import *
 __all__ += spack.util.executable.__all__
 
-from spack.package import flat_install, flatten_dependencies, DependencyConflictError
-__all__ += ['flat_install', 'flatten_dependencies', 'DependencyConflictError']
+from spack.package import install_dependency_symlinks, flatten_dependencies, DependencyConflictError
+__all__ += ['install_dependency_symlinks', 'flatten_dependencies', 'DependencyConflictError']
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/package.py b/lib/spack/spack/package.py
index 1a962268cf..4c458522e0 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/package.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/package.py
@@ -1211,10 +1211,9 @@ def rpath_args(self):
         return " ".join("-Wl,-rpath,%s" % p for p in self.rpath)
 
 
-def flat_install(pkg, spec, prefix):
+def install_dependency_symlinks(pkg, spec, prefix):
     """Execute a dummy install and flatten dependencies"""
-    os.mkdir(prefix+'/libs')
-    flatten_dependencies(spec, prefix+'/libs')
+    flatten_dependencies(spec, prefix)
 
 def flatten_dependencies(spec, flat_dir):
     """Make each dependency of spec present in dir via symlink."""