I'm working on an old OS X machine. I needed to perform: AR=libtool ARFLAGS="-static -o" ... make configure ./configure ... make However, it appears the Makefile does not respect ARFLAGS: $ grep -IR '$(AR)' * Makefile: $(QUIET_AR)$(RM) $@ && $(AR) rcs $@ $^ Makefile: $(QUIET_AR)$(RM) $@ && $(AR) rcs $@ $^ Makefile: $(QUIET_AR)$(RM) $@ && $(AR) rcs $@ $^ It was fixed with a quick "sed": sed -i "" 's|$(AR) rcs|$(AR) $(ARFLAGS)|g' Makefile The Makefile might benefit from the following for users who need to tweak things: ARFLAGS ?= rcs ... $(QUIET_AR)$(RM) $@ && $(AR) $(ARFLAGS) $@ $^ ... -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html