diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2f44a88c9763ad11803e9f80f67f19ee4a0f744f..4e7832b2d86485ca389461a7487e0740fb9e7229 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -146,7 +146,9 @@ AS_IF([test "x$with_openssl" != "xno"],
       [PKG_CHECK_MODULES([OpenSSL], [openssl >= 1.1], [have_openssl=yes], [have_openssl=no])],
       [have_openssl=no])
 AS_IF([test "x$have_openssl" = "xyes"], [
-    LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS} -lssl"
+    AC_SUBST(OpenSSL_CFLAGS, "")
+    AC_SUBST(OpenSSL_LIBS, "")
+    AC_SUBST(OpenSSL_LDFLAGS, "-lssl")
     AC_MSG_NOTICE([Using OpenSSL])
 ], [
     AC_MSG_NOTICE([Not using OpenSSL])
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 3381beb36386f668e9155017ebd12fa4107709d3..560dd61e9be302aee4c20095773e1ba1aa25be61 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 lib_LTLIBRARIES = libopendht.la
 
-libopendht_la_CPPFLAGS = @CPPFLAGS@ -I$(top_srcdir)/include/opendht @Argon2_CFLAGS@ @JsonCpp_CFLAGS@ @MsgPack_CFLAGS@
-libopendht_la_LIBADD   = @Argon2_LIBS@ @JsonCpp_LIBS@ @GnuTLS_LIBS@ @Nettle_LIBS@
-libopendht_la_LDFLAGS  = @LDFLAGS@ @Argon2_LDFLAGS@ -version-number @OPENDHT_MAJOR_VERSION@:@OPENDHT_MINOR_VERSION@:@OPENDHT_PATCH_VERSION@
+libopendht_la_CPPFLAGS = @CPPFLAGS@ -I$(top_srcdir)/include/opendht @Argon2_CFLAGS@ @JsonCpp_CFLAGS@ @MsgPack_CFLAGS@ @OpenSSL_CFLAGS@
+libopendht_la_LIBADD   = @Argon2_LIBS@ @JsonCpp_LIBS@ @GnuTLS_LIBS@ @Nettle_LIBS@ @OpenSSL_LIBS@
+libopendht_la_LDFLAGS  = @LDFLAGS@ @Argon2_LDFLAGS@ @OpenSSL_LDFLAGS@ -version-number @OPENDHT_MAJOR_VERSION@:@OPENDHT_MINOR_VERSION@:@OPENDHT_PATCH_VERSION@
 libopendht_la_SOURCES  = \
         dht.cpp \
         storage.h \