diff --git a/src/lib/Makefile b/src/lib/Makefile
index a09eb710..7d24a6cc 100644
--- a/src/lib/Makefile
+++ b/src/lib/Makefile
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ SRCS = ../utils/conftree.cpp ../index/csguess.cpp ../utils/debuglog.cpp \
      ../common/unacpp.cpp ../unac/unac.c
 
 librcl.a : $(OBJS)
-	 ar ru librcl.a $(OBJS)
+	ar ru librcl.a $(OBJS)
+	$(RANLIB) librcl.a
 
 unac.o : ../unac/unac.c ../unac/unac.h
 	$(CC) $(UNACCFLAGS) -c $<
diff --git a/src/mk/commondefs b/src/mk/commondefs
index 1f25ff81..c912ee02 100644
--- a/src/mk/commondefs
+++ b/src/mk/commondefs
@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ LIBXAPIANSTATIC = /usr/local/lib/libxapian.a
 
 BIGLIB = ../lib/librcl.a
 MIMELIB = ../bincimapmime/libmime.a
+RANLIB = test -f