diff --git a/mesonbuild/compilers.py b/mesonbuild/compilers.py
index e7c02b272..d0f33496e 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/compilers.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/compilers.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+import re
 import shutil
 import contextlib
 import subprocess, os.path
@@ -375,10 +376,15 @@ class CompilerArgs(list):
     # Arg prefixes that override by prepending instead of appending
     prepend_prefixes = ('-I', '-L')
     # Arg prefixes and args that must be de-duped by returning 2
-    dedup2_prefixes = ('-I', '-L', '-D')
+    dedup2_prefixes = ('-I', '-L', '-D', '-U')
+    dedup2_suffixes = ()
     dedup2_args = ()
     # Arg prefixes and args that must be de-duped by returning 1
-    dedup1_prefixes = ()
+    dedup1_prefixes = ('-l',)
+    dedup1_suffixes = ('.lib', '.dll', '.so', '.dylib', '.a')
+    # Match a .so of the form path/to/libfoo.so.0.1.0
+    # Only UNIX shared libraries require this. Others have a fixed extension.
+    dedup1_regex = re.compile(r'([\/\\]|\A)lib.*\.so(\.[0-9]+)?(\.[0-9]+)?(\.[0-9]+)?$')
     dedup1_args = ('-c', '-S', '-E', '-pipe', '-pthread')
     compiler = None
 
@@ -416,7 +422,7 @@ class CompilerArgs(list):
     def _can_dedup(cls, arg):
         '''
         Returns whether the argument can be safely de-duped. This is dependent
-        on two things:
+        on three things:
 
         a) Whether an argument can be 'overriden' by a later argument.  For
            example, -DFOO defines FOO and -UFOO undefines FOO. In this case, we
@@ -430,10 +436,20 @@ class CompilerArgs(list):
            a particular argument is present. This can matter for symbol
            resolution in static or shared libraries, so we cannot de-dup or
            reorder them. For these we return `0`. This is the default.
+
+        In addition to these, we handle library arguments specially.
+        With GNU ld, we surround library arguments with -Wl,--start/end-group
+        to recursively search for symbols in the libraries. This is not needed
+        with other linkers.
         '''
-        if arg.startswith(cls.dedup2_prefixes) or arg in cls.dedup2_args:
+        if arg in cls.dedup2_args or \
+           arg.startswith(cls.dedup2_prefixes) or \
+           arg.endswith(cls.dedup2_suffixes):
             return 2
-        if arg.startswith(cls.dedup1_prefixes) or arg in cls.dedup1_args:
+        if arg in cls.dedup1_args or \
+           arg.startswith(cls.dedup1_prefixes) or \
+           arg.endswith(cls.dedup1_suffixes) or \
+           re.search(cls.dedup1_regex, arg):
             return 1
         return 0
 
@@ -444,6 +460,21 @@ class CompilerArgs(list):
         return False
 
     def to_native(self):
+        # Check if we need to add --start/end-group for circular dependencies
+        # between static libraries.
+        if get_compiler_uses_gnuld(self.compiler):
+            group_started = False
+            for each in self:
+                if not each.startswith('-l') and not each.endswith('.a'):
+                    continue
+                i = self.index(each)
+                if not group_started:
+                    # First occurance of a library
+                    self.insert(i, '-Wl,--start-group')
+                    group_started = True
+            # Last occurance of a library
+            if group_started:
+                self.insert(i + 1, '-Wl,--end-group')
         return self.compiler.unix_args_to_native(self)
 
     def __add__(self, args):
@@ -2402,6 +2433,15 @@ def get_compiler_is_linuxlike(compiler):
         return True
     return False
 
+def get_compiler_uses_gnuld(c):
+    # FIXME: Perhaps we should detect the linker in the environment?
+    # FIXME: Assumes that *BSD use GNU ld, but they might start using lld soon
+    if (getattr(c, 'gcc_type', None) in (GCC_STANDARD, GCC_MINGW, GCC_CYGWIN)) or \
+       (getattr(c, 'clang_type', None) in (CLANG_STANDARD, CLANG_WIN)) or \
+       (getattr(c, 'icc_type', None) in (ICC_STANDARD, ICC_WIN)):
+        return True
+    return False
+
 def get_largefile_args(compiler):
     '''
     Enable transparent large-file-support for 32-bit UNIX systems
diff --git a/run_unittests.py b/run_unittests.py
index e3b7c5cc3..71448f941 100755
--- a/run_unittests.py
+++ b/run_unittests.py
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ class InternalTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(a, ['-Ibar', '-Ifoo', '-Ibaz', '-I..', '-I.', '-O3', '-O2', '-Wall'])
 
         ## Test that reflected addition works
-        # Test that adding to a list with just one old arg works and DOES NOT yield the same array
+        # Test that adding to a list with just one old arg works and yields the same array
         a = ['-Ifoo'] + a
         self.assertEqual(a, ['-Ibar', '-Ifoo', '-Ibaz', '-I..', '-I.', '-O3', '-O2', '-Wall'])
         # Test that adding to a list with just one new arg that is not pre-pended works
@@ -148,6 +148,19 @@ class InternalTests(unittest.TestCase):
         # Test that adding to a list with two new args preserves the order
         a = ['-Ldir', '-Lbah'] + a
         self.assertEqual(a, ['-Ibar', '-Ifoo', '-Ibaz', '-I..', '-I.', '-Ldir', '-Lbah', '-Werror', '-O3', '-O2', '-Wall'])
+        # Test that adding to a list with old args does nothing
+        a = ['-Ibar', '-Ibaz', '-Ifoo'] + a
+        self.assertEqual(a, ['-Ibar', '-Ifoo', '-Ibaz', '-I..', '-I.', '-Ldir', '-Lbah', '-Werror', '-O3', '-O2', '-Wall'])
+
+        ## Test that adding libraries works
+        l = cargsfunc(c, ['-Lfoodir', '-lfoo'])
+        self.assertEqual(l, ['-Lfoodir', '-lfoo'])
+        # Adding a library and a libpath appends both correctly
+        l += ['-Lbardir', '-lbar']
+        self.assertEqual(l, ['-Lbardir', '-Lfoodir', '-lfoo', '-lbar'])
+        # Adding the same library again does nothing
+        l += ['-lbar']
+        self.assertEqual(l, ['-Lbardir', '-Lfoodir', '-lfoo', '-lbar'])
 
     def test_commonpath(self):
         from os.path import sep
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/3rdorderdeps/meson.build b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/3rdorderdeps/meson.build
index a2907f383..d4ef7453d 100644
--- a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/3rdorderdeps/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/3rdorderdeps/meson.build	
@@ -16,8 +16,10 @@ foreach dep2 : ['sh', 'st']
 
       if libtype == 'sh'
         target = 'shared_library'
+        build_args = []
       elif libtype == 'st'
         target = 'static_library'
+        build_args = ['-DMESON_STATIC_BUILD']
       else
         error('Unknown libtype "@0@"'.format(libtype))
       endif
@@ -31,13 +33,16 @@ foreach dep2 : ['sh', 'st']
                              output : name + '-lib.c',
                              configuration : cdata)
       dep = get_variable(dep1 + dep2 + 'dep')
-      dep3_lib = build_target(name, lib_c, link_with : dep, target_type : target)
+      dep3_lib = build_target(name, lib_c, link_with : dep,
+                              target_type : target,
+                              c_args : build_args)
       dep3_libs += [dep3_lib]
 
       main_c = configure_file(input : 'main.c.in',
                               output : name + '-main.c',
                               configuration : cdata)
-      dep3_bin = executable(name, main_c, link_with : dep3_lib)
+      dep3_bin = executable(name, main_c, link_with : dep3_lib,
+                            c_args : build_args)
       test(name + 'test', dep3_bin)
     endforeach
   endforeach
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/lib1.c b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/lib1.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..38889cfa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/lib1.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+int get_st2_prop (void);
+int get_st3_prop (void);
+
+int get_st1_value (void) {
+  return get_st2_prop () + get_st3_prop ();
+}
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/lib2.c b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/lib2.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..31cd37cc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/lib2.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+int get_st1_prop (void);
+int get_st3_prop (void);
+
+int get_st2_value (void) {
+  return get_st1_prop () + get_st3_prop ();
+}
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/lib3.c b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/lib3.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..67d473aac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/lib3.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+int get_st1_prop (void);
+int get_st2_prop (void);
+
+int get_st3_value (void) {
+  return get_st1_prop () + get_st2_prop ();
+}
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/main.c b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5f797a5ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/main.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+#include "../lib.h"
+
+int get_st1_value (void);
+int get_st2_value (void);
+int get_st3_value (void);
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
+  int val;
+
+  val = get_st1_value ();
+  if (val != 5) {
+    printf("st1 value was %i instead of 5\n", val);
+    return -1;
+  }
+  val = get_st2_value ();
+  if (val != 4) {
+    printf("st2 value was %i instead of 4\n", val);
+    return -2;
+  }
+  val = get_st3_value ();
+  if (val != 3) {
+    printf("st3 value was %i instead of 3\n", val);
+    return -3;
+  }
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/meson.build b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b7a70a86b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/meson.build	
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+st1 = static_library('st1', 'lib1.c', 'prop1.c')
+st2 = static_library('st2', 'lib2.c', 'prop2.c')
+st3 = static_library('st3', 'lib3.c', 'prop3.c')
+
+test('circular', executable('circular', 'main.c', link_with : [st1, st2, st3]))
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/prop1.c b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/prop1.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4e571f5ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/prop1.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+int get_st1_prop (void) {
+  return 1;
+}
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/prop2.c b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/prop2.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ceabba055
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/prop2.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+int get_st2_prop (void) {
+  return 2;
+}
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/prop3.c b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/prop3.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..246206c2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/circular/prop3.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+int get_st3_prop (void) {
+  return 3;
+}
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/lib.h b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/lib.h
index b6b75fa05..b54bf3673 100644
--- a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/lib.h	
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/lib.h	
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 #if defined _WIN32
-  #define SYMBOL_IMPORT __declspec(dllimport)
-  #define SYMBOL_EXPORT __declspec(dllexport)
+  #ifdef MESON_STATIC_BUILD
+   #define SYMBOL_EXPORT
+   #define SYMBOL_IMPORT
+  #else
+   #define SYMBOL_IMPORT __declspec(dllimport)
+   #define SYMBOL_EXPORT __declspec(dllexport)
+  #endif
 #else
   #define SYMBOL_IMPORT
   #if defined __GNUC__
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/main.c b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/main.c
index f1219a649..085161115 100644
--- a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/main.c	
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/main.c	
@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@
 
 #include "lib.h"
 
-SYMBOL_IMPORT int get_stnodep_value (void);
+int get_stnodep_value (void);
+int get_stshdep_value (void);
+int get_ststdep_value (void);
 SYMBOL_IMPORT int get_shnodep_value (void);
 SYMBOL_IMPORT int get_shshdep_value (void);
 SYMBOL_IMPORT int get_shstdep_value (void);
-SYMBOL_IMPORT int get_stshdep_value (void);
-SYMBOL_IMPORT int get_ststdep_value (void);
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   int val;
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/meson.build b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/meson.build
index f17fc4a6e..4cecd5727 100644
--- a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/meson.build	
@@ -20,3 +20,7 @@ test('alldeps',
 
 # More combinations of static and shared libraries
 subdir('3rdorderdeps')
+
+# Circular dependencies between static libraries
+# This requires the use of --start/end-group with GNU ld
+subdir('circular')
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/stnodep/meson.build b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/stnodep/meson.build
index 0334f23ca..77f7129b6 100644
--- a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/stnodep/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/stnodep/meson.build	
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-stnodep = static_library('stnodep', 'lib.c')
+stnodep = static_library('stnodep', 'lib.c',
+                         c_args : '-DMESON_STATIC_BUILD')
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/stshdep/meson.build b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/stshdep/meson.build
index 7e8e7c82b..0967c1ce4 100644
--- a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/stshdep/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/stshdep/meson.build	
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-stshdep = static_library('stshdep', 'lib.c', link_with : shnodep)
+stshdep = static_library('stshdep', 'lib.c', link_with : shnodep,
+                         c_args : '-DMESON_STATIC_BUILD')
diff --git a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/ststdep/meson.build b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/ststdep/meson.build
index 92b0230a7..3602442aa 100644
--- a/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/ststdep/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/common/153 recursive linking/ststdep/meson.build	
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-ststdep = static_library('ststdep', 'lib.c', link_with : stnodep)
+ststdep = static_library('ststdep', 'lib.c', link_with : stnodep,
+                         c_args : '-DMESON_STATIC_BUILD')