diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 85fa093ae..272252e91 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -136,8 +136,9 @@ check: lib tests
 test: check
 
 ifndef WINDOWS
-# note: for coverage testing, build with:
-# make CFLAGS='--coverage -g3 -O0'
+# Note: for coverage testing, build with:
+#     make CFLAGS='--coverage -g3 -O0' LDFLAGS='--coverage -g3 -O0'
+# For the reference coverage measurement, see tests/scripts/basic-build-test.sh
 covtest:
 	$(MAKE) check
 	programs/test/selftest
diff --git a/scripts/lcov.sh b/scripts/lcov.sh
index 718166ddb..8d141eedf 100755
--- a/scripts/lcov.sh
+++ b/scripts/lcov.sh
@@ -6,8 +6,14 @@ Usage: $0 [-r]
 Collect coverage statistics of library code into an HTML report.
 
 General instructions:
-1. Build the library with CFLAGS="--coverage -O0 -g3".
+1. Build the library with CFLAGS="--coverage -O0 -g3" and link the test
+   programs with LDFLAGS="--coverage".
    This can be an out-of-tree build.
+   For example (in-tree):
+        make CFLAGS="--coverage -O0 -g3" LDFLAGS="--coverage"
+   Or (out-of-tree):
+        mkdir build-coverage && cd build-coverage &&
+        cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Coverage .. && make
 2. Run whatever tests you want.
 3. Run this script from the parent of the directory containing the library
    object files and coverage statistics files.