diff --git a/srcpkgs/whois/template b/srcpkgs/whois/template
index 680e3680f9..45f8d00b39 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/whois/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/whois/template
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ checksum=f053ebe766f7a6f42859e6a4abd3f18741f9788aaeb1b129c3c8de95085635da
 
 do_build() {
 	case "$XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE" in
-		*-musl) LDFLAGS+=" -lintl";;
+		*-musl) LIBS="-lintl";;
 	esac
-	make CC=$CC prefix=/usr HAVE_LIBIDN=1 LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS"
+	make CC=$CC prefix=/usr HAVE_LIBIDN=1 LIBS="$LIBS"
 }
 do_install() {
 	make prefix=/usr BASEDIR=${DESTDIR} install-whois