diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 31228f2711..1692a0a5c4 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -835,6 +835,7 @@ if test "$mingw32" = "yes" ; then
 fi
 
 werror=""
+as_shared_lib="no"
 
 for opt do
   optarg=$(expr "x$opt" : 'x[^=]*=\(.*\)')
@@ -1582,9 +1583,9 @@ for opt do
   --disable-slirp-smbd) slirp_smbd=no
   ;;
   --as-shared-lib)
-      QEMU_LDFLAGS="$QEMU_LDFLAGS -shared"
-      QEMU_CFLAGS="QEMU_CFLAGS -fPIC -DAS_SHARED_LIB=1"
-      QEMU_CXXFLAGS="QEMU_CXXFLAGS -fPIC -DAS_SHARED_LIB=1"
+      as_shared_lib="yes"
+      QEMU_CFLAGS="$QEMU_CFLAGS -fPIC -DAS_SHARED_LIB=1"
+      QEMU_CXXFLAGS="$QEMU_CXXFLAGS -fPIC -DAS_SHARED_LIB=1"
   ;;
   *)
       echo "ERROR: unknown option $opt"
@@ -4923,6 +4924,10 @@ if test "$secret_keyring" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_SECRET_KEYRING=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
 
+if test "$as_shared_lib" = "yes" ; then
+  echo "AS_SHARED_LIB=y" >> $config_host_mak
+fi
+
 echo "ROMS=$roms" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "MAKE=$make" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "PYTHON=$python" >> $config_host_mak
diff --git a/linux-user/main.c b/linux-user/main.c
index 87736f3a9c..68e55ae483 100644
--- a/linux-user/main.c
+++ b/linux-user/main.c
@@ -656,7 +656,7 @@ int libafl_qemu_run(void)
 
 #ifdef AS_SHARED_LIB
 int qemu_user_init(int argc, char **argv, char **envp);
-__attribute__((section(".init_array"))) static void *ctr = &qemu_user_init;
+__attribute__((section(".init_array"))) void *_qemu_user_init_ctr = &qemu_user_init;
 
 int qemu_user_init(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
 #else
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 7e58e6279b..c5c2c34ef8 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2656,15 +2656,26 @@ foreach target : target_dirs
       exe_name += '-unsigned'
     endif
 
-    emulator = executable(exe_name, exe['sources'],
+    if 'AS_SHARED_LIB' in config_host
+        emulator = shared_library(exe_name, exe['sources'],
                install: true,
                c_args: c_args,
                dependencies: arch_deps + deps + exe['dependencies'],
                objects: lib.extract_all_objects(recursive: true),
                link_language: link_language,
                link_depends: [block_syms, qemu_syms] + exe.get('link_depends', []),
-               link_args: link_args,
-               gui_app: exe['gui'])
+               link_args: link_args)
+    else
+        emulator = executable(exe_name, exe['sources'],
+                   install: true,
+                   c_args: c_args,
+                   dependencies: arch_deps + deps + exe['dependencies'],
+                   objects: lib.extract_all_objects(recursive: true),
+                   link_language: link_language,
+                   link_depends: [block_syms, qemu_syms] + exe.get('link_depends', []),
+                   link_args: link_args,
+                   gui_app: exe['gui'])
+    endif
 
     if targetos == 'darwin'
       icon = 'pc-bios/qemu.rsrc'