diff --git a/config/Makefile.cygming b/config/Makefile.cygming
index afdd851..7c0dda4 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.cygming
+++ b/config/Makefile.cygming
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ BINDIR = /usr/bin
 LIBDIR = /usr/lib/mingw
 INCDIR = /usr/include/mingw/GL
 # use gcc for linking, with ld it does not work
-CC := gcc -mno-cygwin
-LD := gcc -mno-cygwin
+CC ?= gcc -mno-cygwin
+LD ?= $(CC)
 LN :=
 CFLAGS.SO = -DGLEW_BUILD
 LDFLAGS.GL = -lopengl32 -lgdi32 -luser32 -lkernel32
diff --git a/config/Makefile.cygwin b/config/Makefile.cygwin
index b044273..c715f62 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.cygwin
+++ b/config/Makefile.cygwin
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 NAME = GLEW
 GLEW_DEST ?= /usr
 # use gcc for linking, with ld it does not work
-CC := cc
-LD := cc
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= $(CC)
 LN :=
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA =
 LIBDIR = $(GLEW_DEST)/lib
diff --git a/config/Makefile.darwin b/config/Makefile.darwin
index 0c05ed1..87941ff 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.darwin
+++ b/config/Makefile.darwin
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = cc
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= $(CC)
 CFLAGS.EXTRA = -dynamic -fno-common
 #CFLAGS.EXTRA += -no-cpp-precomp
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA =
diff --git a/config/Makefile.darwin-ppc b/config/Makefile.darwin-ppc
index 2aaf66a..c5a57db 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.darwin-ppc
+++ b/config/Makefile.darwin-ppc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = cc
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= $(CC)
 CFLAGS.EXTRA = -arch ppc -dynamic -fno-common
 #CFLAGS.EXTRA += -no-cpp-precomp
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA = -arch ppc
diff --git a/config/Makefile.darwin-x86_64 b/config/Makefile.darwin-x86_64
index 83e5c47..4944f7a 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.darwin-x86_64
+++ b/config/Makefile.darwin-x86_64
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = cc
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= $(CC)
 CFLAGS.EXTRA = -arch x86_64 -dynamic -fno-common
 #CFLAGS.EXTRA += -no-cpp-precomp
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA = -arch x86_64
diff --git a/config/Makefile.freebsd b/config/Makefile.freebsd
index ab9d9d9..3973bdd 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.freebsd
+++ b/config/Makefile.freebsd
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = ld
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= ld
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA = -L/usr/X11R6/lib
 LDFLAGS.GL = -lXmu -lXi -lGL -lXext -lX11
 LDFLAGS.STATIC = -Wl,-Bstatic
diff --git a/config/Makefile.gnu b/config/Makefile.gnu
index 2398ab0..332952e 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.gnu
+++ b/config/Makefile.gnu
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = cc
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= $(CC)
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA = -L/usr/X11R6/lib
 LDFLAGS.GL = -lXmu -lXi -lGL -lXext -lX11
 LDFLAGS.STATIC = -Wl,-Bstatic
diff --git a/config/Makefile.haiku b/config/Makefile.haiku
index ce832f9..f5f8fd3 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.haiku
+++ b/config/Makefile.haiku
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = cc
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= $(CC)
 ifneq (undefined, $(origin GLEW_MX))
 	CFLAGS.EXTRA = -DGLEW_MX
 endif
diff --git a/config/Makefile.irix b/config/Makefile.irix
index a1be5ee..aa1a3b2 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.irix
+++ b/config/Makefile.irix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = ld
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= ld
 ABI = -64# -n32
 CC += $(ABI)
 LD += $(ABI)
diff --git a/config/Makefile.kfreebsd b/config/Makefile.kfreebsd
index 9501091..a13a6ea 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.kfreebsd
+++ b/config/Makefile.kfreebsd
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = cc
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= $(CC)
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA = -L/usr/X11R6/lib
 LDFLAGS.GL = -lXmu -lXi -lGL -lXext -lX11
 LDFLAGS.STATIC = -Wl,-Bstatic
diff --git a/config/Makefile.linux b/config/Makefile.linux
index 234adc6..96ab7c6 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.linux
+++ b/config/Makefile.linux
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = cc
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= $(CC)
 M_ARCH ?= $(shell uname -m)
 ARCH64 = false
 ifeq (x86_64,${M_ARCH})
diff --git a/config/Makefile.mingw b/config/Makefile.mingw
index e74fd3c..398c53a 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.mingw
+++ b/config/Makefile.mingw
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 NAME = glew32
 # use gcc for linking, with ld it does not work
-CC := gcc
-LD := gcc
+CC ?= gcc
+LD ?= $(CC)
 LN :=
 CFLAGS.SO = -DGLEW_BUILD
 LDFLAGS.GL = -lopengl32 -lgdi32 -luser32 -lkernel32
diff --git a/config/Makefile.nacl-32 b/config/Makefile.nacl-32
index 2a5cec7..8f43958 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.nacl-32
+++ b/config/Makefile.nacl-32
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ ifeq (Linux,${M_NAME})
 M_PREFIX = i686
 endif
 
-CC  = $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-gcc
-CXX = $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-g++
-LD  = $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-ld
+CC  ?= $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-gcc
+CXX ?= $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-g++
+LD  ?= $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-ld
 STRIP ?=
 EXT.DYNAMIC = so
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA =
diff --git a/config/Makefile.nacl-64 b/config/Makefile.nacl-64
index 37cb6e9..1d3f44f 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.nacl-64
+++ b/config/Makefile.nacl-64
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ ifeq (Linux,${M_NAME})
 M_PREFIX = i686
 endif
 
-CC  = $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-gcc
-CXX = $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-g++
-LD  = $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-ld
+CC  ?= $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-gcc
+CXX ?= $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-g++
+LD  ?= $(M_PREFIX)-nacl-ld
 STRIP ?=
 EXT.DYNAMIC = so
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA =
diff --git a/config/Makefile.netbsd b/config/Makefile.netbsd
index 5f69cd6..a781c2a 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.netbsd
+++ b/config/Makefile.netbsd
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = ld
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= ld
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA = -L/usr/X11R7/lib -R /usr/X11R7/lib 
 LDFLAGS.GL = -lXmu -lXi -lGL -lXext -lX11
 LDFLAGS.STATIC = -Wl,-Bstatic
diff --git a/config/Makefile.openbsd b/config/Makefile.openbsd
index 365ea9e..bd61960 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.openbsd
+++ b/config/Makefile.openbsd
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = ld
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= ld
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA = -L/usr/X11R6/lib
 LDFLAGS.GL = -lXmu -lXi -lGLU -lGL -lXext -lX11 -lm
 LDFLAGS.STATIC = -Wl,-Bstatic
diff --git a/config/Makefile.solaris b/config/Makefile.solaris
index befba5a..b435798 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.solaris
+++ b/config/Makefile.solaris
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = cc
-LD = ld
+CC ?= cc
+LD ?= ld
 CFLAGS.EXTRA = -I/usr/openwin/include
 LDFLAGS.SO = -G
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA = -L/usr/openwin/lib
diff --git a/config/Makefile.solaris-gcc b/config/Makefile.solaris-gcc
index c0373f4..53c704d 100644
--- a/config/Makefile.solaris-gcc
+++ b/config/Makefile.solaris-gcc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 NAME = $(GLEW_NAME)
-CC = gcc
-LD = ld
+CC ?= gcc
+LD ?= ld
 CFLAGS.EXTRA = -I/usr/openwin/include
 LDFLAGS.SO = -G
 LDFLAGS.EXTRA = -L/usr/openwin/lib