diff --git a/classes/internal-rust-cross.bbclass b/classes/internal-rust-cross.bbclass
index 3c16510..23c7df8 100644
--- a/classes/internal-rust-cross.bbclass
+++ b/classes/internal-rust-cross.bbclass
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ PN = "rust-cross-${TARGET_ARCH}"
 # here because cross.bblcass is "helpful" and blanks it out.
 #TARGET_PRE_LINK_ARGS_append = " --sysroot=${STAGING_DIR_TARGET}"
 
+# FIXME: the only way to convince cargo to include the rpath is via editing
+# Config.toml, and doing that safely requires us to write actual patches
+HOST_PRE_LINK_ARGS_append = " -Wl,-rpath=${libdir}"
+BUILD_PRE_LINK_ARGS_append = " -Wl,-rpath=${libdir}"
+
 # We need the same thing for the calls to the compiler when building the runtime crap
 TARGET_CC_ARCH_append = " --sysroot=${STAGING_DIR_TARGET}"
 
diff --git a/recipes/cargo/cargo_2014-12-02.bb b/recipes/cargo/cargo_2014-12-02.bb
index e72f3f9..508e8a1 100644
--- a/recipes/cargo/cargo_2014-12-02.bb
+++ b/recipes/cargo/cargo_2014-12-02.bb
@@ -22,5 +22,3 @@ EXTRA_OECARGO_PATHS = "\
 	${WORKDIR}/gcc-rs \
 	${WORKDIR}/ssh2-rs \
 "
-
-
diff --git a/recipes/rust/rust.inc b/recipes/rust/rust.inc
index 0943056..9aa1e15 100644
--- a/recipes/rust/rust.inc
+++ b/recipes/rust/rust.inc
@@ -49,10 +49,10 @@ PRE_LINK_ARGS[i586] = "-Wl,--as-needed -m32"
 
 # XXX: for some reason bitbake sets BUILD_* & TARGET_* but uses the bare
 # variables for HOST. Alias things to make it easier for us.
-HOST_LDFLAGS  ??= "${LDFLAGS}"
-HOST_CFLAGS   ??= "${CFLAGS}"
-HOST_CXXFLAGS ??= "${CXXFLAGS}"
-HOST_CPPFLAGS ??= "${CPPFLAGS}"
+HOST_LDFLAGS  ?= "${LDFLAGS}"
+HOST_CFLAGS   ?= "${CFLAGS}"
+HOST_CXXFLAGS ?= "${CXXFLAGS}"
+HOST_CPPFLAGS ?= "${CPPFLAGS}"
 
 # XXX: BITBAKE-BUG: *_PRE_LINK_ARGS used to be set via function invocation, but
 # that caused bitbake to error on users of these variables without any