diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index 3299c20a13..67593864cd 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -18,6 +18,27 @@ AC_DEFUN([TOR_EXTEND_CODEPATH],
   fi
 ])
 
+AC_DEFUN([TOR_DEFINE_CODEPATH],
+[
+  if test x$1 = "x(system)"; then
+    TOR_LDFLAGS_$2=""
+    TOR_CPPFLAGS_$2=""
+  else
+   if test -d "$1/lib"; then
+     TOR_LDFLAGS_$2="-L$1/lib"
+   else
+     TOR_LDFLAGS_$2="-L$1"
+   fi
+   if test -d "$1/include"; then
+     TOR_CPPFLAGS_$2="-I$1/include"
+   else
+     TOR_CPPFLAGS_$2="-I$1"
+   fi
+  fi
+  AC_SUBST(TOR_CPPFLAGS_$2)
+  AC_SUBST(TOR_LDFLAGS_$2)
+])
+
 dnl 1:libname
 AC_DEFUN([TOR_WARN_MISSING_LIB], [
 h=""
@@ -118,6 +139,8 @@ if test $tor_cv_library_$1_dir != "(system)"; then
    TOR_EXTEND_CODEPATH($tor_cv_library_$1_dir)
 fi
 
+TOR_DEFINE_CODEPATH($tor_cv_library_$1_dir , $1)
+
 if test -z "$CROSS_COMPILE"; then
   AC_CACHE_CHECK([whether we need extra options to link $1],
                  tor_cv_library_$1_linker_option, [
@@ -151,9 +174,13 @@ if test -z "$CROSS_COMPILE"; then
   ]) dnl end cache check check for extra options.
 
   if test "$tor_cv_library_$1_linker_option" != "(none)" ; then
-   LDFLAGS="$tor_cv_library_$1_linker_option $LDFLAGS"
+    TOR_LDFLAGS_$1="$tor_cv_library_$1_linker_option"
   fi
 fi # cross-compile
 
+LIBS="$tor_saved_LIBS"
+LDFLAGS="$tor_saved_LDFLAGS"
+CPPFLAGS="$TOR_CPPFLAGS_$1 $tor_saved_CPPFLAGS"
+
 ]) dnl end defun
 
diff --git a/src/or/Makefile.am b/src/or/Makefile.am
index ef079a45c1..93f9edb198 100644
--- a/src/or/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/or/Makefile.am
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ tor_SOURCES = buffers.c circuitbuild.c circuitlist.c \
 	eventdns.c \
 	tor_main.c
 
+tor_LIBS = -lz -levent -lssl -lcrypto
+tor_LDFLAGS = @TOR_LDFLAGS_zlib@ @TOR_LDFLAGS_openssl@ @TOR_LDFLAGS_libevent@ \
+        -lz -levent -lssl -lcrypto
 tor_LDADD = ../common/libor.a ../common/libor-crypto.a
 
 test_SOURCES = buffers.c circuitbuild.c circuitlist.c \
@@ -24,6 +27,8 @@ test_SOURCES = buffers.c circuitbuild.c circuitlist.c \
 	eventdns.c \
 	test.c
 
+test_LDFLAGS = @TOR_LDFLAGS_zlib@ @TOR_LDFLAGS_openssl@ \
+        @TOR_LDFLAGS_libevent@ -lz -levent -lssl -lcrypto
 test_LDADD = ../common/libor.a ../common/libor-crypto.a
 
 noinst_HEADERS = or.h eventdns.h eventdns_tor.h micro-revision.i