diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 97552e3c4..1355ece49 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ test_run_tests_SOURCES = test/blackhole-server.c \
                          test/test-getsockname.c \
                          test/test-hrtime.c \
                          test/test-idle.c \
+                         test/test-ip6-addr.c \
                          test/test-ipc-send-recv.c \
                          test/test-ipc.c \
                          test/test-list.h \
diff --git a/checksparse.sh b/checksparse.sh
index 0da9a15a1..765bc6ad2 100755
--- a/checksparse.sh
+++ b/checksparse.sh
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ test/test-getaddrinfo.c
 test/test-getsockname.c
 test/test-hrtime.c
 test/test-idle.c
+test/test-ip6-addr.c
 test/test-ipc-send-recv.c
 test/test-ipc.c
 test/test-loop-handles.c
diff --git a/include/uv-darwin.h b/include/uv-darwin.h
index 110115cd0..43b261f5f 100644
--- a/include/uv-darwin.h
+++ b/include/uv-darwin.h
@@ -58,4 +58,6 @@
 
 #define UV_HAVE_KQUEUE 1
 
+#define UV_PLATFORM_HAS_IP6_LINK_LOCAL_ADDRESS
+
 #endif /* UV_DARWIN_H */
diff --git a/include/uv-linux.h b/include/uv-linux.h
index 9b38405a1..62ebfe2a0 100644
--- a/include/uv-linux.h
+++ b/include/uv-linux.h
@@ -31,4 +31,6 @@
   void* watchers[2];                                                          \
   int wd;                                                                     \
 
+#define UV_PLATFORM_HAS_IP6_LINK_LOCAL_ADDRESS
+
 #endif /* UV_LINUX_H */
diff --git a/include/uv-win.h b/include/uv-win.h
index 1c27452e1..f36e89351 100644
--- a/include/uv-win.h
+++ b/include/uv-win.h
@@ -582,3 +582,5 @@ int uv_utf16_to_utf8(const WCHAR* utf16Buffer, size_t utf16Size,
     char* utf8Buffer, size_t utf8Size);
 int uv_utf8_to_utf16(const char* utf8Buffer, WCHAR* utf16Buffer,
     size_t utf16Size);
+
+#define UV_PLATFORM_HAS_IP6_LINK_LOCAL_ADDRESS
diff --git a/src/uv-common.c b/src/uv-common.c
index 64a25991a..9b1cefbfd 100644
--- a/src/uv-common.c
+++ b/src/uv-common.c
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
 #include <stdlib.h> /* malloc */
 #include <string.h> /* memset */
 
+#if defined(UV_PLATFORM_HAS_IP6_LINK_LOCAL_ADDRESS) && !defined(_WIN32)
+# include <net/if.h> /* if_nametoindex */
+#endif
 
 #define XX(uc, lc) case UV_##uc: return sizeof(uv_##lc##_t);
 
@@ -173,11 +176,36 @@ struct sockaddr_in uv_ip4_addr(const char* ip, int port) {
 
 struct sockaddr_in6 uv_ip6_addr(const char* ip, int port) {
   struct sockaddr_in6 addr;
+  char address_part[40];
+  size_t address_part_size;
+  const char* zone_index;
 
   memset(&addr, 0, sizeof(struct sockaddr_in6));
 
   addr.sin6_family = AF_INET6;
   addr.sin6_port = htons(port);
+
+#if defined(UV_PLATFORM_HAS_IP6_LINK_LOCAL_ADDRESS)
+  zone_index = strchr(ip, '%');
+  if (zone_index != NULL) {
+    address_part_size = sizeof(address_part);
+    assert((unsigned)(zone_index - ip) < address_part_size);
+    strncpy(address_part, ip, zone_index - ip);
+    address_part[address_part_size - 1] = '\0';
+
+    ip = address_part;
+
+    zone_index++; /* skip '%' */
+    /* NOTE: unknown interface (id=0) is silently ignored */
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    addr.sin6_scope_id = atoi(zone_index);
+#else
+    addr.sin6_scope_id = if_nametoindex(zone_index);
+#endif
+  }
+#endif
+
+  /* result code is ignored - we assume ip is a valid IPv6 address */
   uv_inet_pton(AF_INET6, ip, &addr.sin6_addr);
 
   return addr;
diff --git a/test/test-ip6-addr.c b/test/test-ip6-addr.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..24dd6355d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-ip6-addr.c
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+/* Copyright Joyent, Inc. and other Node contributors. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+ * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
+ * deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
+ * rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
+ * sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+ * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+ * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
+ * FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS
+ * IN THE SOFTWARE.
+ */
+
+#include "uv.h"
+#include "task.h"
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#ifdef __linux__
+# include <sys/socket.h>
+# include <net/if.h>
+#endif
+
+typedef void (*iface_info_cb)(const char* ip6_addr, const char* device_name,
+    unsigned iface_index);
+
+void call_iface_info_cb(iface_info_cb iface_cb,
+                        char const* iface_name,
+                        struct sockaddr_in6 const* address) {
+  char string_address[INET6_ADDRSTRLEN];
+  uv_err_t result;
+
+  result = uv_inet_ntop(AF_INET6,
+                        &address->sin6_addr,
+                        string_address,
+                        INET6_ADDRSTRLEN);
+  ASSERT(result.code == UV_OK);
+
+  iface_cb(string_address, iface_name, address->sin6_scope_id);
+}
+
+
+void foreach_ip6_interface(iface_info_cb iface_cb) {
+  uv_err_t result;
+  int count, ix;
+  uv_interface_address_t* addresses;
+
+  result = uv_interface_addresses(&addresses, &count);
+  ASSERT(result.code == UV_OK);
+
+  for (ix = 0; ix < count; ix++) {
+    if (addresses[ix].address.address4.sin_family != AF_INET6)
+      continue;
+
+    call_iface_info_cb(iface_cb,
+                       addresses[ix].name,
+                       &addresses[ix].address.address6);
+  }
+
+  uv_free_interface_addresses(addresses, count);
+}
+
+
+void test_ip6_addr_scope(const char* ip6_addr,
+                         const char* device_name,
+                         unsigned iface_index) {
+   /* 40 bytes address, 16 bytes device name, plus reserve */
+  char scoped_addr[128];
+  struct sockaddr_in6 addr;
+
+  /* skip addresses that are not link-local */
+  if (strncmp(ip6_addr, "fe80::", 6) != 0) return;
+
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  sprintf(scoped_addr, "%s%%%d", ip6_addr, iface_index);
+#else
+  sprintf(scoped_addr, "%s%%%s", ip6_addr, device_name);
+#endif
+
+  LOGF("Testing link-local address %s (iface_index: 0x%02x, device_name: %s)\n",
+       scoped_addr,
+       iface_index,
+       device_name);
+
+  addr = uv_ip6_addr(scoped_addr, TEST_PORT);
+
+  LOGF("Got scope_id 0x%02x\n", addr.sin6_scope_id);
+  ASSERT(iface_index == addr.sin6_scope_id);
+}
+
+
+TEST_IMPL(ip6_addr_link_local) {
+#ifdef UV_PLATFORM_HAS_IP6_LINK_LOCAL_ADDRESS
+  foreach_ip6_interface(&test_ip6_addr_scope);
+  return 0;
+#else
+  RETURN_SKIP("Qualified link-local addresses are not supported.");
+#endif
+}
diff --git a/test/test-list.h b/test/test-list.h
index 514ab676e..d3371a809 100644
--- a/test/test-list.h
+++ b/test/test-list.h
@@ -211,6 +211,7 @@ TEST_DECLARE   (dlerror)
 TEST_DECLARE   (poll_duplex)
 TEST_DECLARE   (poll_unidirectional)
 TEST_DECLARE   (poll_close)
+TEST_DECLARE   (ip6_addr_link_local)
 #ifdef _WIN32
 TEST_DECLARE   (spawn_detect_pipe_name_collisions_on_windows)
 TEST_DECLARE   (argument_escaping)
@@ -499,6 +500,7 @@ TASK_LIST_START
   TEST_ENTRY  (strlcpy)
   TEST_ENTRY  (strlcat)
   TEST_ENTRY  (dlerror)
+  TEST_ENTRY  (ip6_addr_link_local)
 #if 0
   /* These are for testing the test runner. */
   TEST_ENTRY  (fail_always)
diff --git a/uv.gyp b/uv.gyp
index 12b5c3537..63a00661d 100644
--- a/uv.gyp
+++ b/uv.gyp
@@ -378,6 +378,7 @@
         'test/test-udp-multicast-join.c',
         'test/test-dlerror.c',
         'test/test-udp-multicast-ttl.c',
+        'test/test-ip6-addr.c',
       ],
       'conditions': [
         [ 'OS=="win"', {