diff --git a/config/auto/gcc.pm b/config/auto/gcc.pm
index 4877a74e75..c9d5cbf726 100644
--- a/config/auto/gcc.pm
+++ b/config/auto/gcc.pm
@@ -83,20 +83,20 @@ sub _evaluate_gcc {
     $gccversion .= ".$minor" if defined $minor;
     $self->set_result("yes, $gccversion");
 
-    if ($^O eq 'MSWin32') {
-        $conf->data->set(
-            cc_shared      => '',
-            ld_share_flags => '-shared',
-            ld_load_flags  => '-shared',
-        );
-    }
-    else {
-        $conf->data->set(
-            cc_shared      => '-fPIC',
-            ld_share_flags => '-shared -fPIC',
-            ld_load_flags  => '-shared -fPIC',
-        );
-    }
+#    if ($^O eq 'MSWin32') {
+#        $conf->data->set(
+#            cc_shared      => '',
+#            ld_share_flags => '-shared',
+#            ld_load_flags  => '-shared',
+#        );
+#    }
+#    else {
+#        $conf->data->set(
+#            cc_shared      => '-fPIC',
+#            ld_share_flags => '-shared -fPIC',
+#            ld_load_flags  => '-shared -fPIC',
+#        );
+#    }
 
     $conf->data->set( noinline => '__attribute__ ((noinline))' );
 
diff --git a/config/init/defaults.pm b/config/init/defaults.pm
index 71de9f0e5e..7ce8cfcb3b 100644
--- a/config/init/defaults.pm
+++ b/config/init/defaults.pm
@@ -176,7 +176,10 @@ sub runstep {
 
         # libparrot library names
         libparrot_static => 'libparrot.a',
+        # libparrot_shared and libparrot_soname may be overwritten in
+        # OS-specific hints files
         libparrot_shared => 'libparrot.so',
+        libparrot_soname => '',
 
         # does the system know about static/dynamic linking?
         has_static_linking  => 1,
@@ -185,8 +188,6 @@ sub runstep {
         # default behaviour for linking parrot to a static or shared libparrot
         parrot_is_shared => 0,
 
-        #avoid a warning during Configure.pl
-        libparrot_soname => '',
 
         perl      => $^X,
         test_prog => 'parrot',
@@ -201,21 +202,20 @@ sub runstep {
         rm_rf     => '$(PERL) -MExtUtils::Command -e rm_rf',
         touch     => '$(PERL) -MExtUtils::Command -e touch',
 
-        ar        => 'ar',
-        arflags   => 'cr',
-        # tar is currently used only in 'make release'.
-        tar       => which('tar') || '',
-
+        ranlib      => ':',
+        ar          => 'ar',
+        arflags     => 'cr',
         # for Win32
-        ar_out => '',
-
+        ar_out      => '',
         # for Borland C
-        ar_extra      => '',
-        ranlib        => ':',
-        rpath         => '',
-        make          => $Config{make},
-        make_set_make => $Config{make_set_make},
-        make_and      => '&&',
+        ar_extra    => '',
+
+        # tar is currently used only in 'make release'.
+        tar             => which('tar') || '',
+        rpath           => '',
+        make            => $Config{make},
+        make_set_make   => $Config{make_set_make},
+        make_and        => '&&',
 
         # make_c: Command to emulate GNU make's C<-C directory> option:  chdir
         # to C<directory> before executing $(MAKE)
diff --git a/config/init/hints/darwin.pm b/config/init/hints/darwin.pm
index bae5836cb6..68c113a3d9 100644
--- a/config/init/hints/darwin.pm
+++ b/config/init/hints/darwin.pm
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ our %defaults = (
 sub runstep {
     my ( $self, $conf ) = @_;
 
-    my $share_ext = $conf->option_or_data('share_ext');
+    my $share_ext = '.dylib';
     my $version   = $conf->option_or_data('VERSION');
 
     # The hash referenced by $flagsref is the list of options that have -arch
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ sub runstep {
     my $osvers = `/usr/sbin/sysctl -n kern.osrelease`;
     chomp $osvers;
 
-    $conf->data->set(
+    my %darwin_hints = (
         darwin              => 1,
         osx_version         => $deploy_target,
         osvers              => $osvers,
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ sub runstep {
         ldflags             => $flagsref->{ldflags},
         ccwarn              => "-Wno-shadow",
         libs                => $libs,
-        share_ext           => '.dylib',
+        share_ext           => $share_ext,
         load_ext            => '.bundle',
         link                => 'c++',
         linkflags           => $flagsref->{linkflags},
@@ -80,22 +80,30 @@ sub runstep {
         ld_load_flags       => '-undefined dynamic_lookup -bundle',
         memalign            => 'some_memalign',
         has_dynamic_linking => 1,
+        ranlib              => 'ranlib',
 
         # TT #344:  When built against a dynamic libparrot,
         # installable_parrot records the path to the blib version
         # of the library.
 
+        rpath                  => "-L",
         parrot_is_shared       => 1,
         libparrot_shared       => "libparrot.$version$share_ext",
         libparrot_shared_alias => "libparrot$share_ext",
-        rpath                  => "-L",
         libparrot_soname       => "-install_name "
             . '"'
             . $conf->data->get('libdir')
             . '/libparrot'
-            . $conf->data->get('share_ext')
-            . '"'
+            . $share_ext
+            . '"',
     );
+    $conf->data->set( %darwin_hints );
+    my $verbose_message = '';
+    foreach my $k (sort keys %darwin_hints) {
+        $verbose_message .= sprintf("  %-24s => %s\n" =>
+            ($k, $darwin_hints{$k}));
+    }
+    $conf->debug($verbose_message);
 }
 
 #################### INTERNAL SUBROUTINES ####################
diff --git a/config/init/hints/linux.pm b/config/init/hints/linux.pm
index fdfc1c5247..1c13443abd 100644
--- a/config/init/hints/linux.pm
+++ b/config/init/hints/linux.pm
@@ -26,8 +26,9 @@ sub runstep {
     if ( $libs !~ /-lrt\b/ ) {
         $libs .= ' -lrt';
     }
-    my $ld_share_flags = $conf->data->get('ld_share_flags');
     my $cc_shared      = $conf->data->get('cc_shared');
+    my $ld_share_flags = $conf->data->get('ld_share_flags');
+    my $ld_load_flags  = $ld_share_flags;;
 
     if ( $cc =~ /icc/ ) {
 
@@ -46,6 +47,11 @@ sub runstep {
             $cc_shared = '-KPIC';
         }
     }
+    elsif ( $cc =~ /g(c|\+){2}/ ) {
+        $cc_shared      = '-fPIC',
+        $ld_share_flags = '-shared -fPIC',
+        $ld_load_flags  = '-shared -fPIC',
+    }
 
     if ( $ccflags !~ /-D_GNU_SOURCE/ ) {
 
@@ -61,11 +67,11 @@ sub runstep {
     $conf->data->set(
         ccflags         => $ccflags,
         libs            => $libs,
+        cc_shared       => $cc_shared,
         ld_share_flags  => $ld_share_flags,
-        ld_load_flags   => $ld_share_flags,
+        ld_load_flags   => $ld_load_flags,
         linkflags       => $linkflags,
         link            => $link,
-        cc_shared       => $cc_shared,
         rpath           => '-Wl,-rpath=',
         osvers          => $osvers,
 
diff --git a/config/init/optimize.pm b/config/init/optimize.pm
index 7cba9f73ec..c0d49bc447 100644
--- a/config/init/optimize.pm
+++ b/config/init/optimize.pm
@@ -54,8 +54,10 @@ sub runstep {
     $conf->debug("optimize options: ", $optimization_level, "\n");
 
     # disable debug flags.
-    $conf->data->set( cc_debug => '' );
-    $conf->data->add( ' ', ccflags => "-DDISABLE_GC_DEBUG=1 -DNDEBUG" );
+    if ($conf->data->get('optimize')) {
+        $conf->data->set( cc_debug => '' );
+        $conf->data->add( ' ', ccflags => "-DDISABLE_GC_DEBUG=1 -DNDEBUG" );
+    }
 
     # TT #405
     if ($conf->data->get('cpuarch') eq 'amd64') {