diff --git a/script/prepare-llvm-linux.sh b/script/prepare-llvm-linux.sh
index c54c7f7759..29cbbffc89 100755
--- a/script/prepare-llvm-linux.sh
+++ b/script/prepare-llvm-linux.sh
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ for f in $GLIBC/lib/lib{c,dl,m,rt,pthread}-*; do b=$(basename $f); cp $f stage1/
 OPTIONS=()
 echo -n " -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=$PWD/stage1/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=$PWD/llvm/bin/clang++ -DLEAN_CXX_STDLIB='-Wl,-Bstatic -lc++ -lc++abi -Wl,-Bdynamic'"
 # allow C++ code to include /usr since it needs quite a few more headers
-echo -n " -DLEAN_EXTRA_CXX_FLAGS='--sysroot $PWD/llvm --stdlib=libc++ -I/usr/include -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu'"
+echo -n " -DLEAN_EXTRA_CXX_FLAGS='--sysroot $PWD/llvm -I/usr/include -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu'"
 echo -n " -DLEANC_INTERNAL_FLAGS='--sysroot ROOT -I ROOT/include/clang' -DLEANC_CC=ROOT/bin/clang"
-echo -n " -DLEANC_INTERNAL_LINKER_FLAGS='-L ROOT/lib -L ROOT/lib/glibc ROOT/lib/glibc/libc_nonshared.a --rtlib=compiler-rt -static-libgcc -Wl,-Bstatic -lgmp -lunwind -Wl,-Bdynamic -fuse-ld=lld'"
+echo -n " -DLEANC_INTERNAL_LINKER_FLAGS='-L ROOT/lib -L ROOT/lib/glibc ROOT/lib/glibc/libc_nonshared.a -Wl,--as-needed -static-libgcc -Wl,-Bstatic -lgmp -lunwind -Wl,-Bdynamic -fuse-ld=lld'"
 # do not set `LEAN_CC` for tests
 echo -n " -DLEAN_TEST_VARS=''"
diff --git a/src/Leanc.lean b/src/Leanc.lean
index 0986e70a91..ac4753942f 100644
--- a/src/Leanc.lean
+++ b/src/Leanc.lean
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ Beware of the licensing consequences since GMP is LGPL."
   -- We assume that the CMake variables do not contain escaped spaces
   let cflags := ["-I", (root / "include").toString] ++ "@LEANC_EXTRA_FLAGS@".trim.splitOn
   let mut cflagsInternal := "@LEANC_INTERNAL_FLAGS@".trim.splitOn
+  let mut ldflagsInternal := "@LEANC_INTERNAL_LINKER_FLAGS@".trim.splitOn
   let mut ldflags := ["-L", (root / "lib" / "lean").toString, "-lgmp"] ++ "@LEAN_EXTRA_LINKER_FLAGS@".trim.splitOn
   let mut ldflagsExt := "@LEANC_STATIC_LINKER_FLAGS@".trim.splitOn
-  let mut ldflagsInternal := "@LEANC_INTERNAL_LINKER_FLAGS@".trim.splitOn
 
   for arg in args do
     match arg with
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ Beware of the licensing consequences since GMP is LGPL."
     cflagsInternal := []
     ldflagsInternal := []
   cc := rootify cc
-  let args := cflags ++ cflagsInternal ++ args ++ ldflagsExt ++ ldflags ++ ldflagsInternal ++ ["-Wno-unused-command-line-argument"]
+  let args := cflags ++ cflagsInternal ++ args ++ ldflagsInternal ++ ldflagsExt ++ ldflags ++ ["-Wno-unused-command-line-argument"]
   let args := args.filter (!·.isEmpty) |>.map rootify
   if args.contains "-v" then
     IO.eprintln s!"{cc} {" ".intercalate args}"
diff --git a/src/bin/leanc.in b/src/bin/leanc.in
index cc7a6158b3..5cb9a1633d 100755
--- a/src/bin/leanc.in
+++ b/src/bin/leanc.in
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 # used only for building Lean itself
 root=$(dirname $0)
-ldflags=("-L$root/lib" "-L$root/lib/lean" "${LEANC_GMP:--lgmp}" @LEAN_EXTRA_LINKER_FLAGS@ @LEANC_INTERNAL_LINKER_FLAGS@)
+ldflags=(@LEANC_INTERNAL_LINKER_FLAGS@ "-L$root/lib/lean" "${LEANC_GMP:--lgmp}" @LEAN_EXTRA_LINKER_FLAGS@)
 for arg in "$@"; do
     # ccache doesn't like linker flags being passed here
     [[ "$arg" = "-c" ]] && ldflags=()