diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index afcafad..142a217 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 VPATH=$(SRC_PATH):$(SRC_PATH)/hw
 
-LIBS+=-lz
+LIBS+=-lz $(LIBS_TOOLS)
 
 ifdef BUILD_DOCS
 DOCS=qemu-doc.html qemu-tech.html qemu.1 qemu-img.1 qemu-nbd.8
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 0d43812..2f27a26 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 ld="ld"
 helper_cflags=""
 libs_softmmu=""
+libs_tools=""
 audio_pt_int=""
 
 # parse CC options first
@@ -1783,6 +1784,7 @@
 echo "ARLIBS_BEGIN=$arlibs_begin" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "ARLIBS_END=$arlibs_end" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LIBS+=$LIBS" >> $config_host_mak
+echo "LIBS_TOOLS+=$libs_tools" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "EXESUF=$EXESUF" >> $config_host_mak
 
 echo "/* Automatically generated by configure - do not modify */" > $config_host_h