diff --git a/lib/rubygems/command.rb b/lib/rubygems/command.rb
index 088f4add99..1c9ce033be 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/command.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/command.rb
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 #++
 
 require 'optparse'
-require 'rubygems/requirement'
-require 'rubygems/user_interaction'
+require_relative 'requirement'
+require_relative 'user_interaction'
 
 ##
 # Base class for all Gem commands.  When creating a new gem command, define
diff --git a/lib/rubygems/ext.rb b/lib/rubygems/ext.rb
index 35a486606a..bdd5bd9d82 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/ext.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/ext.rb
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@
 
 module Gem::Ext; end
 
-require 'rubygems/ext/build_error'
-require 'rubygems/ext/builder'
-require 'rubygems/ext/configure_builder'
-require 'rubygems/ext/ext_conf_builder'
-require 'rubygems/ext/rake_builder'
-require 'rubygems/ext/cmake_builder'
+require_relative 'ext/build_error'
+require_relative 'ext/builder'
+require_relative 'ext/configure_builder'
+require_relative 'ext/ext_conf_builder'
+require_relative 'ext/rake_builder'
+require_relative 'ext/cmake_builder'
diff --git a/lib/rubygems/ext/build_error.rb b/lib/rubygems/ext/build_error.rb
index 720f37cf26..8ef57ed91a 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/ext/build_error.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/ext/build_error.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 ##
 # Raised when there is an error while building extensions.
 
-require 'rubygems/exceptions'
+require_relative '../exceptions'
 
 class Gem::Ext::BuildError < Gem::InstallError
 end
diff --git a/lib/rubygems/ext/builder.rb b/lib/rubygems/ext/builder.rb
index a8bd4c8d1b..83b3ac4474 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/ext/builder.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/ext/builder.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 # See LICENSE.txt for permissions.
 #++
 
-require 'rubygems/user_interaction'
+require_relative '../user_interaction'
 
 class Gem::Ext::Builder
 
diff --git a/lib/rubygems/ext/cmake_builder.rb b/lib/rubygems/ext/cmake_builder.rb
index 829b88d1bb..76a8c9e92c 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/ext/cmake_builder.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/ext/cmake_builder.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
-require 'rubygems/command'
+require_relative '../command'
 
 class Gem::Ext::CmakeBuilder < Gem::Ext::Builder
 
diff --git a/lib/rubygems/specification_policy.rb b/lib/rubygems/specification_policy.rb
index 1723969b79..4c89403747 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/specification_policy.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/specification_policy.rb
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ http://spdx.org/licenses or '#{Gem::Licenses::NONSTANDARD}' for a nonstandard li
   end
 
   def validate_extensions # :nodoc:
-    require 'rubygems/ext'
+    require_relative 'ext'
     builder = Gem::Ext::Builder.new(@specification)
 
     rake_extension = @specification.extensions.any? {|s| builder.builder_for(s) == Gem::Ext::RakeBuilder }