diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ad8e9736eb..05cf0988e1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ VPATH=$(SRC_PATH):$(SRC_PATH)/hw
 CPPFLAGS += -I. -I$(SRC_PATH) -MMD -MP -MT $@
 CPPFLAGS += -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
 CPPFLAGS += -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE
-LIBS=-lz
+LIBS+=-lz
 
 ifdef BUILD_DOCS
 DOCS=qemu-doc.html qemu-tech.html qemu.1 qemu-img.1 qemu-nbd.8
diff --git a/Makefile.target b/Makefile.target
index 856a9bde2f..c32367f7a3 100644
--- a/Makefile.target
+++ b/Makefile.target
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ TARGET_PATH=$(SRC_PATH)/target-$(TARGET_BASE_ARCH)
 VPATH=$(SRC_PATH):$(TARGET_PATH):$(SRC_PATH)/hw
 CPPFLAGS=-I. -I.. -I$(TARGET_PATH) -I$(SRC_PATH) -MMD -MT $@ -MP -DNEED_CPU_H
 #CFLAGS+=-Werror
-LIBS=
 
 ifdef CONFIG_USER_ONLY
 # user emulator name
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 20a2f6c6fc..249229363e 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1748,6 +1748,7 @@ echo "CFLAGS=$CFLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LDFLAGS=$LDFLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "ARLIBS_BEGIN=$arlibs_begin" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "ARLIBS_END=$arlibs_end" >> $config_host_mak
+echo "LIBS=$LIBS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "EXESUF=$EXESUF" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "PTHREADLIBS=$PTHREADLIBS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "CLOCKLIBS=$CLOCKLIBS" >> $config_host_mak