diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index da73040eca..675a5681a1 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -423,6 +423,11 @@ fi
 AC_SUBST(GST_PLUGIN_LIBTOOLFLAGS)
 AM_CONDITIONAL(GST_PLUGIN_BUILD_STATIC, test "x$enable_static_plugins" = "xyes")
 
+dnl GST_PLUGIN_LDFLAGS must only contain flags, not libs - they get added before
+dnl whatevertarget_LIBS and -L flags here affect the rest of the linking
+GST_PLUGIN_LDFLAGS="-module -avoid-version -export-symbols-regex '^[_]*gst_plugin_.*' $GST_ALL_LDFLAGS"
+AC_SUBST(GST_PLUGIN_LDFLAGS)
+
 dnl *** output files ***
 
 dnl po/Makefile.in