diff --git a/libtcc.c b/libtcc.c
index 2b29d87..64a40ff 100644
--- a/libtcc.c
+++ b/libtcc.c
@@ -1809,14 +1809,13 @@ static int link_option(const char *str, const char *val, const char **ptr)
 
     /* '=' near eos means ',' or '=' is ok */
     if (*q == '=') {
+        if (*p == 0)
+            *ptr = p;
         if (*p != ',' && *p != '=')
             return 0;
         p++;
-        q++;
     }
-
-    if (ptr)
-        *ptr = p;
+    *ptr = p;
     return 1;
 }
 
@@ -1838,9 +1837,9 @@ static char *copy_linker_arg(const char *p)
 /* set linker options */
 static int tcc_set_linker(TCCState *s, const char *option)
 {
-    while (option && *option) {
+    while (*option) {
 
-        const char *p = option;
+        const char *p = NULL;
         char *end = NULL;
         int ignoring = 0;
 
@@ -1916,20 +1915,19 @@ static int tcc_set_linker(TCCState *s, const char *option)
             } else
                 goto err;
 #endif
-        } else
-            goto err;
-
-        if (ignoring && s->warn_unsupported) err: {
-            char buf[100], *e;
-            pstrcpy(buf, sizeof buf, e = copy_linker_arg(option)), tcc_free(e);
-            if (ignoring)
-                tcc_warning("unsupported linker option '%s'", buf);
-            else
-                tcc_error("unsupported linker option '%s'", buf);
+        } else if (p) {
+            return 0;
+        } else {
+    err:
+            tcc_error("unsupported linker option '%s'", option);
         }
+
+        if (ignoring && s->warn_unsupported)
+            tcc_warning("unsupported linker option '%s'", option);
+
         option = skip_linker_arg(&p);
     }
-    return 0;
+    return 1;
 }
 
 typedef struct TCCOption {
@@ -2089,9 +2087,10 @@ PUB_FUNC int tcc_parse_args(TCCState *s, int argc, char **argv)
     int optind = 0;
     int run = 0;
     int x;
+    CString linker_arg; /* collect -Wl options */
     char buf[1024];
 
-    ++s->args_ref;
+    cstr_new(&linker_arg);
 
     while (optind < argc) {
 
@@ -2124,6 +2123,7 @@ PUB_FUNC int tcc_parse_args(TCCState *s, int argc, char **argv)
             if (popt->flags & TCC_OPTION_HAS_ARG) {
                 if (*r1 == '\0' && !(popt->flags & TCC_OPTION_NOSEP)) {
                     if (optind >= argc)
+                arg_err:
                         tcc_error("argument to '%s' is missing", r);
                     optarg = argv[optind++];
                 }
@@ -2157,7 +2157,7 @@ PUB_FUNC int tcc_parse_args(TCCState *s, int argc, char **argv)
             break;
         case TCC_OPTION_pthread:
             parse_option_D(s, "_REENTRANT");
-            s->args_pthread = 1;
+            s->option_pthread = 1;
             break;
         case TCC_OPTION_bench:
             s->do_bench = 1;
@@ -2273,9 +2273,11 @@ PUB_FUNC int tcc_parse_args(TCCState *s, int argc, char **argv)
             s->rdynamic = 1;
             break;
         case TCC_OPTION_Wl:
-            if (s->linker_arg.size)
-                --s->linker_arg.size, cstr_ccat(&s->linker_arg, ',');
-            cstr_cat(&s->linker_arg, optarg, 0);
+            if (linker_arg.size)
+                --linker_arg.size, cstr_ccat(&linker_arg, ',');
+            cstr_cat(&linker_arg, optarg, 0);
+            if (tcc_set_linker(s, linker_arg.data))
+                cstr_free(&linker_arg);
             break;
         case TCC_OPTION_E:
             x = TCC_OUTPUT_PREPROCESS;
@@ -2323,19 +2325,10 @@ unsupported_option:
         }
     }
 
-    if (1 == s->args_ref) {
-        /* top instance */
-	if (s->output_type != TCC_OUTPUT_OBJ) {
-	    tcc_set_linker(s, (const char *)s->linker_arg.data);
-	    if (s->args_pthread) {
-                args_parser_add_file(s, optarg, 'l');
-                s->nb_libraries++;
-            }
-        }
-        cstr_free(&s->linker_arg);
-        s->args_pthread = 0;
+    if (linker_arg.size) {
+        r = linker_arg.data;
+        goto arg_err;
     }
-    --s->args_ref;
 
     return optind;
 }
diff --git a/tcc.c b/tcc.c
index 0e516d1..2bfc672 100644
--- a/tcc.c
+++ b/tcc.c
@@ -303,6 +303,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	    if (!s->ppfp)
 		tcc_error("could not write '%s'", s->outfile);
 	}
+    } else if (s->output_type != TCC_OUTPUT_OBJ) {
+	if (s->option_pthread)
+	    tcc_set_options(s, "-lpthread");
     }
 
     if (s->do_bench)
diff --git a/tcc.h b/tcc.h
index 19093e1..2c38fa5 100644
--- a/tcc.h
+++ b/tcc.h
@@ -762,10 +762,7 @@ struct TCCState {
     int do_bench; /* option -bench */
     int gen_deps; /* option -MD  */
     char *deps_outfile; /* option -MF */
-
-    int args_pthread; /* -pthread option */
-    CString linker_arg; /* collect -Wl options for input such as "-Wl,-rpath -Wl,<path>" */
-    int args_ref; /* tcc_parse_args recursive counter */
+    int option_pthread; /* -pthread option */
 };
 
 struct filespec {