diff --git a/mesonbuild/modules/gnome.py b/mesonbuild/modules/gnome.py
index ad99c14da..db85420db 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/modules/gnome.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/modules/gnome.py
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ class GnomeModule(ExtensionModule):
                 continue
 
         if gir_has_extra_lib_arg() and use_gir_args:
-            fixed_ldflags = set()
+            fixed_ldflags = OrderedSet()
             for ldflag in ldflags:
                 if ldflag.startswith("-l"):
                     fixed_ldflags.add(ldflag.replace('-l', '--extra-library=', 1))
@@ -565,6 +565,7 @@ class GnomeModule(ExtensionModule):
         ldflags += list(dep_ldflags)
         scan_command += ['--cflags-begin']
         scan_command += cflags
+        scan_command += state.environment.coredata.external_args[lang]
         scan_command += ['--cflags-end']
         # need to put our output directory first as we need to use the
         # generated libraries instead of any possibly installed system/prefix
@@ -595,6 +596,11 @@ class GnomeModule(ExtensionModule):
                 d = os.path.join(state.environment.get_build_dir(), d)
                 scan_command.append('-L' + d)
             scan_command += ['--library', libname]
+
+        for link_arg in state.environment.coredata.external_link_args[lang]:
+            if link_arg.startswith('-L'):
+                scan_command.append(link_arg)
+
         scankwargs = {'output': girfile,
                       'command': scan_command,
                       'depends': depends}
@@ -823,6 +829,8 @@ This will become a hard error in the future.''')
                 raise MesonException(
                     'Gir include dirs should be include_directories().')
         cflags.update(get_include_args(inc_dirs))
+        cflags.update(state.environment.coredata.external_args['c'])
+        ldflags.update(state.environment.coredata.external_link_args['c'])
         if cflags:
             args += ['--cflags=%s' % ' '.join(cflags)]
         if ldflags:
diff --git a/mesonbuild/scripts/gtkdochelper.py b/mesonbuild/scripts/gtkdochelper.py
index 4406b2881..2a5ee8b9c 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/scripts/gtkdochelper.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/scripts/gtkdochelper.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 import sys, os
 import subprocess
+import shlex
 import shutil
 import argparse
 from ..mesonlib import MesonException, Popen_safe
@@ -45,10 +46,13 @@ parser.add_argument('--namespace', dest='namespace', default='')
 parser.add_argument('--mode', dest='mode', default='')
 parser.add_argument('--installdir', dest='install_dir')
 
-def gtkdoc_run_check(cmd, cwd):
+def gtkdoc_run_check(cmd, cwd, library_path=None):
+    env = dict(os.environ)
+    if library_path:
+        env['LD_LIBRARY_PATH'] = library_path
     # Put stderr into stdout since we want to print it out anyway.
     # This preserves the order of messages.
-    p, out = Popen_safe(cmd, cwd=cwd, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)[0:2]
+    p, out = Popen_safe(cmd, cwd=cwd, env=env, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)[0:2]
     if p.returncode != 0:
         err_msg = ["{!r} failed with status {:d}".format(cmd[0], p.returncode)]
         if out:
@@ -115,7 +119,15 @@ def build_gtkdoc(source_root, build_root, doc_subdir, src_subdirs,
                                                               '--ldflags=' + ldflags,
                                                               '--ld=' + ld]
 
-        gtkdoc_run_check(scanobjs_cmd, abs_out)
+        library_paths = []
+        for ldflag in shlex.split(ldflags):
+            if ldflag.startswith('-Wl,-rpath,'):
+                library_paths.append(ldflag[11:])
+        if 'LD_LIBRARY_PATH' in os.environ:
+            library_paths.append(os.environ['LD_LIBRARY_PATH'])
+        library_path = ':'.join(library_paths)
+
+        gtkdoc_run_check(scanobjs_cmd, abs_out, library_path)
 
     # Make docbook files
     if mode == 'auto':