--- Source/setup_configure.py
+++ Source/setup_configure.py
@@ -830,8 +830,8 @@
     def __init__( self, setup ):
         Compiler.__init__( self, setup )
 
-        self._addVar( 'CCC',            'g++' )
-        self._addVar( 'CC',             'gcc' )
+        self._addVar( 'CCC',            '$(CXX)' )
+        self._addVar( 'CC',             '$(CC)' )
 
     def getPythonExtensionFileExt( self ):
         return '.so'
@@ -948,8 +948,8 @@
         else:
             arch_options = ''
 
-        self._addVar( 'CCC',            'g++ %s' % (arch_options,) )
-        self._addVar( 'CC',             'gcc %s' % (arch_options,) )
+        self._addVar( 'CCC',            '$(CXX) %s' % (arch_options,) )
+        self._addVar( 'CC',             '$(CC) %s' % (arch_options,) )
 
         self._find_paths_pycxx_dir = [
                         '../Import/pycxx-%d.%d.%d' % pycxx_version,
@@ -1014,12 +1014,12 @@
 
     def setupUtilities( self ):
         self._addVar( 'CCCFLAGS',
-                                        '-g  '
+                                        '$(CXXFLAGS) '
                                         '-no-long-double '
                                         '-Wall -fPIC -fexceptions -frtti '
                                         '-I. -I%(APR_INC)s -I%(SVN_INC)s '
                                         '-D%(DEBUG)s' )
-        self._addVar( 'LDEXE',          '%(CCC)s -g' )
+        self._addVar( 'LDEXE',          '$(CXX) $(LDFLAGS)' )
 
     def setupPySvn( self ):
         self._pysvnModuleSetup()
@@ -1031,7 +1031,7 @@
         self._addVar( 'PYTHON_INC',         distutils.sysconfig.get_python_inc() )
 
         py_cflags_list = [
-                    '-g',
+                    '$(CXXFLAGS)',
                     '-no-long-double',
                     '-Wall -fPIC -fexceptions -frtti',
                     '-I. -I%(APR_INC)s -I%(SVN_INC)s',
@@ -1058,13 +1058,12 @@
 
         self._addVar( 'CCCFLAGS', ' '.join( py_cflags_list ) )
         self._addVar( 'LDLIBS', ' '.join( py_ld_libs ) )
-        self._addVar( 'LDSHARED',       '%(CCC)s -bundle -g '
+        self._addVar( 'LDSHARED',       '$(CXX) $(LDFLAGS) -bundle '
                                         '-framework System '
                                         '%(PYTHON_FRAMEWORK)s '
                                         '-framework CoreFoundation '
                                         '-framework Kerberos '
-                                        '-framework Security '
-                                        '%(LDLIBS)s' )
+                                        '-framework Security' )
 
 class UnixCompilerGCC(CompilerGCC):
     def __init__( self, setup ):
@@ -1124,11 +1123,11 @@
 
     def setupUtilities( self ):
         self._addVar( 'CCCFLAGS',
-                                        '-g  '
+                                        '$(CXXFLAGS) '
                                         '-Wall -fPIC -fexceptions -frtti '
                                         '-I. -I%(APR_INC)s -I%(SVN_INC)s '
                                         '-D%(DEBUG)s' )
-        self._addVar( 'LDEXE',          '%(CCC)s -g' )
+        self._addVar( 'LDEXE',          '$(CXX) $(LDFLAGS)' )
 
     def setupPySvn( self ):
         self._pysvnModuleSetup()
@@ -1138,6 +1137,7 @@
         self._addVar( 'PYTHON_INC',     distutils.sysconfig.get_python_inc() )
 
         py_cflags_list = [
+                    '$(CXXFLAGS)',
                     '-Wall -fPIC -fexceptions -frtti',
                     '-I. -I%(APR_INC)s -I%(SVN_INC)s',
                     '-DPYCXX_PYTHON_2TO3 -I%(PYCXX)s -I%(PYCXX_SRC)s -I%(PYTHON_INC)s',
@@ -1154,7 +1154,7 @@ 
 
         self._addVar( 'CCCFLAGS',   ' '.join( py_cflags_list ) )
         self._addVar( 'LDLIBS',     ' '.join( self._getLdLibs() ) )
-        self._addVar( 'LDSHARED',   '%(CCC)s -shared -g' )
+        self._addVar( 'LDSHARED',   '$(CXX) $(LDFLAGS) -shared' )
 
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 class LinuxCompilerGCC(UnixCompilerGCC):