diff --git a/scripts/create_kiwix-desktop_appImage.sh b/scripts/create_kiwix-desktop_appImage.sh
index f1d9e4ef..15d4fc3d 100755
--- a/scripts/create_kiwix-desktop_appImage.sh
+++ b/scripts/create_kiwix-desktop_appImage.sh
@@ -25,6 +25,41 @@ rm -f $APPDIR/usr/lib/libmagic.so*
 cp -a /usr/$SYSTEMLIBDIR/nss $APPDIR/usr/lib
 # Copy libthai.so (see kiwix-desktop issue#1016)
 cp -a /usr/$SYSTEMLIBDIR/libthai.so* $APPDIR/usr/lib
+
+# Copy ssl libs so that the appimage runs on newer systems
+# that use a backward incompatible version of openssl
+cp /usr/$SYSTEMLIBDIR/lib{crypto,ssl}.so.1.1 $APPDIR/usr/lib
+
+patch_rodata()
+{
+    local elffile=$1
+    local sedscript=$2
+    local rodatafile=$elffile.rodata
+    objcopy --dump-section .rodata="$rodatafile" "$elffile"
+    sed -i "$sedscript" "$rodatafile"
+    objcopy --update-section .rodata="$rodatafile" "$elffile"
+    rm $rodatafile
+}
+
+# copy and patch a couple of libs depending on ssl functionalty before
+# linuxdeployqt copies and modifies them whereupon the patch_rodata procedure
+# stops working on them correctly
+cp -rL /usr/$SYSTEMLIBDIR/{libgnutls.so.30,libQt5Network.so.5} $APPDIR/usr/lib
+
+# patch libQt5Network.so so that if it fails to load certificates from
+# system paths the last path that it tries points to the certificate bundle
+# included with the appimage
+
+# !!! crt_bundle_new_path must have the same length as crt_bundle_old_path
+crt_bundle_old_path=/usr/local/share/certs/ca-root-nss.crt
+crt_bundle_new_path=/tmp/cert_bundle_provided_by_kiwix.crt
+# !!! crt_bundle_new_path must have the same length as crt_bundle_old_path
+
+libQtNetworkPatchingSedScript="s|$crt_bundle_old_path|$crt_bundle_new_path|"
+
+patch_rodata $APPDIR/usr/lib/libQt5Network.so.5 "$libQtNetworkPatchingSedScript"
+
+
 cp $ICONFILE $APPDIR/usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/kiwix-desktop.svg
 mkdir -p $APPDIR/usr/share/applications
 cp $DESKTOPFILE $APPDIR/usr/share/applications/kiwix-desktop.desktop
@@ -43,5 +78,35 @@ chmod u+x linuxdeployqt
 ./linuxdeployqt $APPDIR/usr/bin/kiwix-desktop -bundle-non-qt-libs -extra-plugins=imageformats,iconengines
 # Fix the RPATH of QtWebEngineProcess [TODO] Fill a issue ?
 patchelf --set-rpath '$ORIGIN/../lib' $APPDIR/usr/libexec/QtWebEngineProcess
-# Build the image.
-./linuxdeployqt $APPDIR/usr/share/applications/kiwix-desktop.desktop -bundle-non-qt-libs -extra-plugins=imageformats,iconengines -appimage
+
+cp $DESKTOPFILE $APPDIR/kiwix-desktop.desktop
+cp $ICONFILE $APPDIR/
+cp $ICONFILE $APPDIR/.DirIcon
+
+rm "$APPDIR"/AppRun
+
+cat > "$APPDIR"/AppRun <<'END'
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+mydir=$(dirname "$0")
+mydir=$(cd "$mydir" && pwd)
+
+crt_path=??? # this is set by postprocessing via sed
+
+if [ ! -e "$crt_path" ]
+then
+    ln -s "$mydir"/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt "$crt_path"
+    trap "rm '$crt_path'" EXIT
+fi
+
+"$mydir"/usr/bin/kiwix-desktop "$@"
+END
+
+sed -i "s#^crt_path=.*#crt_path=$crt_bundle_new_path#" "$APPDIR"/AppRun
+
+chmod 0755 "$APPDIR"/AppRun
+
+wget --continue https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageKit/releases/download/13/appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage
+chmod u+x appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage
+
+./appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage AppDir Kiwix-"$VERSION"-x86_64.AppImage