diff --git a/legacy/eet/configure.ac b/legacy/eet/configure.ac
index c1a5f8ae0d..375543b6ca 100644
--- a/legacy/eet/configure.ac
+++ b/legacy/eet/configure.ac
@@ -287,6 +287,8 @@ AC_SUBST(EET_CFLAGS)
 
 ### Checks for linker characteristics
 
+# use --enable-auto-import on Windows
+
 lt_enable_auto_import=""
 case "$host_os" in
    mingw* | cegcc*)
@@ -295,6 +297,20 @@ case "$host_os" in
 esac
 AC_SUBST(lt_enable_auto_import)
 
+# use --as-needed if supported
+
+LDFLAGS_SAVE=${LDFLAGS}
+LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS} -Wl,--as-needed"
+
+AC_LINK_IFELSE(
+   [AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[]], [])],
+   [ld_as_needed="-Wl,--as-needed"],
+   [ld_as_needed=""]
+)
+
+LDFLAGS=${LDFLAGS_SAVE}
+AC_SUBST(ld_as_needed)
+
 
 ### Checks for library functions
 AC_FUNC_ALLOCA
diff --git a/legacy/eet/src/bin/Makefile.am b/legacy/eet/src/bin/Makefile.am
index ff757353ec..b66a83111d 100644
--- a/legacy/eet/src/bin/Makefile.am
+++ b/legacy/eet/src/bin/Makefile.am
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@ bin_PROGRAMS = eet
 eet_SOURCES = eet_main.c
 eet_CFLAGS = @EET_CFLAGS@
 eet_LDADD = $(top_builddir)/src/lib/libeet.la
-eet_LDFLAGS = @lt_enable_auto_import@ -Wl
+eet_LDFLAGS = @lt_enable_auto_import@ @ld_as_needed@