diff --git a/common.mk b/common.mk
index b334a504..fb4fecaf 100644
--- a/common.mk
+++ b/common.mk
@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@ CFLAGS += $(call cflags_for_lib, libpcre)
 ifeq ($(shell pkg-config --atleast-version=8.10 libpcre 2>/dev/null && echo 1),1)
 I3_CPPFLAGS += -DPCRE_HAS_UCP=1
 endif
-CFLAGS += $(call cflags_for_lib, libstartup-notification-1.0)
 
 LIBS += -lm
 LIBS += -L $(TOPDIR) -li3
@@ -107,7 +106,10 @@ LIBS += $(call ldflags_for_lib, x11,X11)
 LIBS += $(call ldflags_for_lib, yajl,yajl)
 LIBS += $(call ldflags_for_lib, libev,ev)
 LIBS += $(call ldflags_for_lib, libpcre,pcre)
-LIBS += $(call ldflags_for_lib, libstartup-notification-1.0,startup-notification-1)
+
+# startup-notification
+LIBSN_CFLAGS := $(call cflags_for_lib, libstartup-notification-1.0)
+LIBSN_LIBS   := $(call ldflags_for_lib, libstartup-notification-1.0,startup-notification-1)
 
 
 ## Platform-specific flags
diff --git a/src/i3.mk b/src/i3.mk
index ce9f31dd..dc86898e 100644
--- a/src/i3.mk
+++ b/src/i3.mk
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ i3_SOURCES_GENERATED  = src/cfgparse.tab.c src/cfgparse.yy.c
 i3_SOURCES           := $(filter-out $(i3_SOURCES_GENERATED),$(wildcard src/*.c))
 i3_HEADERS_CMDPARSER := $(wildcard include/GENERATED_*.h)
 i3_HEADERS           := $(filter-out $(i3_HEADERS_CMDPARSER),$(wildcard include/*.h))
-i3_CFLAGS             =
-i3_LIBS               =
+i3_CFLAGS             = $(LIBSN_CFLAGS)
+i3_LIBS               = $(LIBSN_LIBS)
 
 i3_OBJECTS := $(i3_SOURCES_GENERATED:.c=.o) $(i3_SOURCES:.c=.o)