diff --git a/src/index/Makefile b/src/index/Makefile
index 40f82ee3..fe88d73c 100644
--- a/src/index/Makefile
+++ b/src/index/Makefile
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@ include $(depth)/mk/sysconf
 PROGS = recollindex 
 SRCS = recollindex.cpp rclmonrcv.cpp rclmonprc.cpp
 
-all: depend $(PROGS) librecoll
+all: depend librecoll $(PROGS)
 
 RECOLLINDEX_OBJS= recollindex.o rclmonrcv.o rclmonprc.o 
-recollindex : $(RECOLLINDEX_OBJS) librecoll
+recollindex : $(RECOLLINDEX_OBJS)
 	$(CXX) $(ALL_CXXFLAGS) $(RECOLL_LDFLAGS) -o recollindex \
                $(RECOLLINDEX_OBJS) \
 	       $(BSTATIC) $(LIBRECOLL) $(LIBXAPIAN) $(LIBXAPIANSTATICEXTRA) \
diff --git a/src/lib/Makefile b/src/lib/Makefile
index 0037fe85..a8571840 100644
--- a/src/lib/Makefile
+++ b/src/lib/Makefile
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ librecoll.a : $(DEPS) $(OBJS)
 # no effort whatsoever to maintain any kind of ABI compat in this lib. Only
 # programs or modules from the same Recoll release can be compatible.
 $(LIBRECOLL): $(DEPS) $(OBJS)
-	g++ -shared -Wl,--no-undefined -Wl,-rpath=$(libdir)           -Wl,-soname=$(LIBRECOLL) -o $(LIBRECOLL) $(OBJS)            -lxapian -lz -lX11 -lpthread -ldl
+	g++ -shared -Wl,--no-undefined           -Wl,-soname=$(LIBRECOLL) -o $(LIBRECOLL) $(OBJS)            -lxapian -lz -lX11 -lpthread -ldl
 	rm -f librecoll.so
 	ln -s $(LIBRECOLL) librecoll.so
 
diff --git a/src/lib/mkMake b/src/lib/mkMake
index 9a3594d4..e2974b7e 100755
--- a/src/lib/mkMake
+++ b/src/lib/mkMake
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ librecoll.a : \$(DEPS) \$(OBJS)
 # no effort whatsoever to maintain any kind of ABI compat in this lib. Only
 # programs or modules from the same Recoll release can be compatible.
 \$(LIBRECOLL): \$(DEPS) \$(OBJS)
-	g++ -shared -Wl,--no-undefined -Wl,-rpath=\$(libdir) \
+	g++ -shared -Wl,--no-undefined \
           -Wl,-soname=\$(LIBRECOLL) -o \$(LIBRECOLL) \$(OBJS) \
            -lxapian -lz -lX11 -lpthread -ldl
 	rm -f librecoll.so
diff --git a/src/python/recoll/setup.py.in b/src/python/recoll/setup.py.in
index e87a8929..9dd5e41e 100644
--- a/src/python/recoll/setup.py.in
+++ b/src/python/recoll/setup.py.in
@@ -7,7 +7,11 @@ top = os.path.join('..', '..')
 
 library_dirs = [os.path.join(top, 'lib')]
 libraries = ['recoll']
-runtime_library_dirs = [os.path.join(os.environ['libdir'], 'recoll')]
+runtime_library_dirs = []
+try:
+    runtime_library_dirs = [os.path.join(os.environ['libdir'], 'recoll')]
+except:
+    pass
 
 # Verify that the Recoll library was compiled with the PIC options
 localdefs = os.path.join(top, 'mk', 'localdefs')