diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 83a6080bf8..e25e0d9494 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -3804,7 +3804,8 @@ EOF
               symlink "$source_path/dtc/scripts" "dtc/scripts"
           fi
           fdt_cflags="-I\$(SRC_PATH)/dtc/libfdt"
-          fdt_libs="-L\$(BUILD_DIR)/dtc/libfdt $fdt_libs"
+          fdt_ldflags="-L\$(BUILD_DIR)/dtc/libfdt"
+          fdt_libs="$fdt_libs"
       elif test "$fdt" = "yes" ; then
           # Not a git build & no libfdt found, prompt for system install
           error_exit "DTC (libfdt) version >= 1.4.2 not present." \
@@ -5746,6 +5747,7 @@ echo_version() {
 
 # prepend pixman and ftd flags after all config tests are done
 QEMU_CFLAGS="$pixman_cflags $fdt_cflags $QEMU_CFLAGS"
+QEMU_LDFLAGS="$fdt_ldflags $QEMU_LDFLAGS"
 libs_softmmu="$pixman_libs $libs_softmmu"
 
 echo "Install prefix    $prefix"
@@ -5776,6 +5778,7 @@ echo "ARFLAGS           $ARFLAGS"
 echo "CFLAGS            $CFLAGS"
 echo "QEMU_CFLAGS       $QEMU_CFLAGS"
 echo "LDFLAGS           $LDFLAGS"
+echo "QEMU_LDFLAGS      $QEMU_LDFLAGS"
 echo "make              $make"
 echo "install           $install"
 echo "python            $python"
@@ -6710,6 +6713,7 @@ else
 fi
 echo "LDFLAGS=$LDFLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LDFLAGS_NOPIE=$LDFLAGS_NOPIE" >> $config_host_mak
+echo "QEMU_LDFLAGS=$QEMU_LDFLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LD_REL_FLAGS=$LD_REL_FLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LD_I386_EMULATION=$ld_i386_emulation" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LIBS+=$LIBS" >> $config_host_mak
diff --git a/rules.mak b/rules.mak
index 93a07027b0..04c7f74d07 100644
--- a/rules.mak
+++ b/rules.mak
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ expand-objs = $(strip $(sort $(filter %.o,$1)) \
 # must link with the C++ compiler, not the plain C compiler.
 LINKPROG = $(or $(CXX),$(CC))
 
-LINK = $(call quiet-command, $(LINKPROG) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ \
+LINK = $(call quiet-command, $(LINKPROG) $(QEMU_LDFLAGS) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ \
        $(call process-archive-undefs, $1) \
        $(version-obj-y) $(call extract-libs,$1) $(LIBS),"LINK","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")