diff --git a/library/Makefile b/library/Makefile
index 8b59114c9..58bdfdf20 100644
--- a/library/Makefile
+++ b/library/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 
 # Also see "include/polarssl/config.h"
 
-CFLAGS	= -I../include -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -Wall -W -Wdeclaration-after-statement
+CFLAGS	+= -I../include -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -Wall -W -Wdeclaration-after-statement
 OFLAGS	= -O
 
 # MicroBlaze specific options:
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@ libpolarssl.a: $(OBJS)
 
 libpolarssl.so: libpolarssl.a
 	echo "  LD    $@"
-	$(CC) -shared -Wl,-soname,$@ -o $@ $(OBJS)
+	$(CC) ${LDFLAGS} -shared -Wl,-soname,$@ -o $@ $(OBJS)
 
 libpolarssl.dylib: libpolarssl.a
 	echo "  LD    $@"
-	$(CC) -dynamiclib -o $@ $(OBJS)
+	$(CC) ${LDFLAGS} -dynamiclib -o $@ $(OBJS)
 
 .c.o:
 	echo "  CC    $<"
diff --git a/programs/Makefile b/programs/Makefile
index 025d8f5d2..9ad47ecb6 100644
--- a/programs/Makefile
+++ b/programs/Makefile
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@
 # To compile on MinGW: add "-lws2_32" to LDFLAGS
 # To compile with PKCS11: add "-lpkcs11-helper" to LDFLAGS
 
-CFLAGS	= -I../include -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -Wall -W -Wdeclaration-after-statement
+CFLAGS	+= -I../include -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -Wall -W -Wdeclaration-after-statement
 OFLAGS	= -O
-LDFLAGS	= -L../library -lpolarssl
+LDFLAGS	+= -L../library -lpolarssl
 
 APPS =	aes/aescrypt2	aes/crypt_and_hash	\
 	hash/hello			hash/generic_sum	\
diff --git a/tests/Makefile b/tests/Makefile
index af4a7c420..8b80b3e9b 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile
+++ b/tests/Makefile
@@ -3,11 +3,11 @@
 # To compile on MinGW: add "-lws2_32" to LDFLAGS
 # To compile with PKCS11: add "-lpkcs11-helper" to LDFLAGS
 
-CFLAGS	= -I../include -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -Wall -W -Wdeclaration-after-statement \
+CFLAGS	+= -I../include -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -Wall -W -Wdeclaration-after-statement \
 			-Wno-unused-function -Wno-unused-value
 
 OFLAGS	= -O
-LDFLAGS	= -L../library -lpolarssl
+LDFLAGS	+= -L../library -lpolarssl
 
 APPS =	test_suite_aes			test_suite_arc4		\
 		test_suite_base64		test_suite_camellia	\