diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index fe8dcc753cf..5e7120270f7 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -805,7 +805,11 @@ bitcoin_util_LDADD = \
 bitcoin_chainstate_SOURCES = bitcoin-chainstate.cpp
 bitcoin_chainstate_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(BITCOIN_INCLUDES)
 bitcoin_chainstate_CXXFLAGS = $(AM_CXXFLAGS) $(PIE_FLAGS)
-bitcoin_chainstate_LDFLAGS = $(RELDFLAGS) $(AM_LDFLAGS) $(LIBTOOL_APP_LDFLAGS) $(PTHREAD_FLAGS)
+
+# $(LIBTOOL_APP_LDFLAGS) deliberately omitted here so that we can test linking
+# bitcoin-chainstate against libbitcoinkernel as a shared or static library by
+# setting --{en,dis}able-shared.
+bitcoin_chainstate_LDFLAGS = $(RELDFLAGS) $(AM_LDFLAGS) $(PTHREAD_FLAGS)
 bitcoin_chainstate_LDADD = $(LIBBITCOINKERNEL)
 #