diff --git a/bin/ruby-build b/bin/ruby-build
index 43376d4d..d590f111 100755
--- a/bin/ruby-build
+++ b/bin/ruby-build
@@ -969,11 +969,16 @@ build_package_verify_openssl() {
 
 # Ensure that directories listed in LDFLAGS exist
 build_package_ldflags_dirs() {
-  local arg
-  for arg in $LDFLAGS; do
-    case "$arg" in
-    -L* ) mkdir -p "${arg#-L}" ;;
+  local arg dir
+  set - $LDFLAGS
+  while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+    dir=""
+    case "$1" in
+    -L  ) dir="$2" ;;
+    -L* ) dir="${1#-L}" ;;
     esac
+    [ -z "$dir" ] || mkdir -p "$dir"
+    shift 1
   done
 }
 
diff --git a/test/build.bats b/test/build.bats
index 76425a71..a3c65e84 100644
--- a/test/build.bats
+++ b/test/build.bats
@@ -630,3 +630,16 @@ DEF
   run ruby-build "${TMP}/build-definition" "$INSTALL_ROOT"
   assert_failure "ruby-build: TMPDIR=$TMPDIR is set to a non-accessible location"
 }
+
+@test "initializes LDFLAGS directories" {
+  cached_tarball "ruby-2.0.0"
+
+  export LDFLAGS="-L ${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/what/evs"
+  run_inline_definition <<DEF
+install_package "ruby-2.0.0" "http://ruby-lang.org/ruby/2.0/ruby-2.0.0.tar.gz" ldflags_dirs
+DEF
+  assert_success
+
+  assert [ -d "${INSTALL_ROOT}/lib" ]
+  assert [ -d "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/what/evs" ]
+}