diff --git a/configure b/configure
index f97b0a8..606635d 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ case $PLATFORM in
 	"sun4u"|"sun4v"|"sparc64")
 		PLATFORM=sparcv9
 		ENVIRONMENT=64
-		LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -m64"
+		LDFLAGS="-m64 $LDFLAGS"
 		;;
 	i386|i486|i586|i686|i586_i686|pentium*|athlon*|k5|k6|k6_2|k6_3)
 		case $SYSTEM in
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ case $PLATFORM in
 	"amd64"|"x86_64")
 		PLATFORM=x86_64
 		ENVIRONMENT=64
-		LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -m64"
+		LDFLAGS="-m64 $LDFLAGS"
 		;;
 	"i86pc")
 		ISA=`isainfo -n 2> /dev/null || echo i386`
@@ -348,13 +348,13 @@ fi
 
 if test "$COMPILER" = "suncc"; then
 	LD=/bin/ld
-	LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -G"
-	CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -xO5"
+	LDFLAGS="-G $LDFLAGS"
+	CFLAGS="-xO5 $CFLAGS"
 	PTHREAD_CFLAGS="-mt -lpthread"
 elif test "$COMPILER" = "gcc"; then
 	LD=$CC
-	LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -shared -fPIC"
-	CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=600 -D_BSD_SOURCE -std=gnu99 -pedantic -Wall -W -Wundef -Wendif-labels -Wshadow -Wpointer-arith -Wbad-function-cast -Wcast-align -Wwrite-strings -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wnested-externs -Winline -Wdisabled-optimization -fstrict-aliasing -O2 -pipe -Wno-parentheses"
+	LDFLAGS="-shared -fPIC $LDFLAGS"
+	CFLAGS="-D_XOPEN_SOURCE=600 -D_BSD_SOURCE -std=gnu99 -pedantic -Wall -W -Wundef -Wendif-labels -Wshadow -Wpointer-arith -Wbad-function-cast -Wcast-align -Wwrite-strings -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wnested-externs -Winline -Wdisabled-optimization -fstrict-aliasing -O2 -pipe -Wno-parentheses $CFLAGS"
 	PTHREAD_CFLAGS="-pthread"
 else
 	assert "" "unknown compiler"