diff --git a/gold/configure b/gold/configure
index 66c9d82482..b882223800 100755
--- a/gold/configure
+++ b/gold/configure
@@ -6132,6 +6132,7 @@ else
 fi
 rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext \
     conftest$ac_exeext conftest.$ac_ext
+LDFLAGS=$LDFLAGS_hold
 fi
 { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $gold_cv_lib_static" >&5
 $as_echo "$gold_cv_lib_static" >&6; }
diff --git a/gold/configure.ac b/gold/configure.ac
index 47120b45bb..949c8c3b10 100644
--- a/gold/configure.ac
+++ b/gold/configure.ac
@@ -265,11 +265,12 @@ dnl Test for whether static linking is supported.  Some systems do not
 dnl install static libraries.  This only affects the set of tests that
 dnl we run.
 AC_CACHE_CHECK([whether static linking works], [gold_cv_lib_static],
-LDFLAGS_hold=$LDFLAGS
+[LDFLAGS_hold=$LDFLAGS
 LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -static"
-[AC_LINK_IFELSE([
+AC_LINK_IFELSE([
 AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[void f() { }]])],
-[gold_cv_lib_static=yes], [gold_cv_lib_static=no])])
+[gold_cv_lib_static=yes], [gold_cv_lib_static=no])
+LDFLAGS=$LDFLAGS_hold])
 AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_STATIC, test "$gold_cv_lib_static" = "yes")
 
 dnl Some architectures do not support taking pointers of functions