diff --git a/common.mak b/common.mak
index 01d44840c8..7ef4693b12 100644
--- a/common.mak
+++ b/common.mak
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ $(SLIBNAME_WITH_MAJOR): $(SHARED_OBJS)
 %.o: %.cpp
 	g++ $(subst -Wall,,$(CFLAGS)) -c -o $@ $<
 
+%: %.o $(LIB)
+	$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(EXTRALIBS)
+
 depend dep: $(SRCS)
 	$(CC) -MM $(CFLAGS) $^ 1>.depend
 
diff --git a/libavcodec/Makefile b/libavcodec/Makefile
index fbf8e0b17d..daef1b2840 100644
--- a/libavcodec/Makefile
+++ b/libavcodec/Makefile
@@ -429,26 +429,18 @@ clean::
 	-$(MAKE) -C amr clean
 	-$(MAKE) -C amrwb_float -f makefile.gcc clean
 
-# api example program
-apiexample: apiexample.c $(LIB)
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(EXTRALIBS)
+apiexample: apiexample.o $(LIB)
 
-# cpuid test
 cpuid_test: i386/cputest.c
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -D__TEST__ -o $@ $<
 
-# testing progs
-
 imgresample-test: imgresample.c $(LIB)
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -DTEST -o $@ $^ $(EXTRALIBS)
 
 dct-test: dct-test.o fdctref.o $(LIB)
-	$(CC) -o $@ $^ $(EXTRALIBS)
 
 motion-test: motion_test.o $(LIB)
-	$(CC) -o $@ $^ -lm
 
 fft-test: fft-test.o $(LIB)
-	$(CC) -o $@ $^ $(EXTRALIBS)
 
 .PHONY: amrlibs tests