diff --git a/builder/build.go b/builder/build.go
index a3d99ec2..1da4d80b 100644
--- a/builder/build.go
+++ b/builder/build.go
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func Build(pkgName, outpath string, config *compileopts.Config, action func(Buil
 		// The package has not yet been compiled, so create a job to do so.
 		job := &compileJob{
 			description: "compile package " + pkg.ImportPath,
-			run: func() error {
+			run: func(*compileJob) error {
 				// Compile AST to IR. The compiler.CompilePackage function will
 				// build the SSA as needed.
 				mod, errs := compiler.CompilePackage(pkg.ImportPath, pkg, program.Package(pkg.Pkg), machine, compilerConfig, config.DumpSSA())
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ func Build(pkgName, outpath string, config *compileopts.Config, action func(Buil
 	programJob := &compileJob{
 		description:  "link+optimize packages (LTO)",
 		dependencies: packageJobs,
-		run: func() error {
+		run: func(*compileJob) error {
 			// Load and link all the bitcode files. This does not yet optimize
 			// anything, it only links the bitcode files together.
 			ctx := llvm.NewContext()
@@ -370,7 +370,8 @@ func Build(pkgName, outpath string, config *compileopts.Config, action func(Buil
 	outputObjectFileJob := &compileJob{
 		description:  "generate output file",
 		dependencies: []*compileJob{programJob},
-		run: func() error {
+		result:       objfile,
+		run: func(*compileJob) error {
 			llvmBuf, err := machine.EmitToMemoryBuffer(mod, llvm.ObjectFile)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
@@ -384,40 +385,32 @@ func Build(pkgName, outpath string, config *compileopts.Config, action func(Buil
 	linkerDependencies := []*compileJob{outputObjectFileJob}
 	executable := filepath.Join(dir, "main")
 	tmppath := executable // final file
-	ldflags := append(config.LDFlags(), "-o", executable, objfile)
+	ldflags := append(config.LDFlags(), "-o", executable)
 
 	// Add compiler-rt dependency if needed. Usually this is a simple load from
 	// a cache.
 	if config.Target.RTLib == "compiler-rt" {
-		path, job, err := CompilerRT.load(config.Triple(), config.CPU(), dir)
+		job, err := CompilerRT.load(config.Triple(), config.CPU(), dir)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		if job != nil {
-			// The library was not loaded from cache so needs to be compiled
-			// (and then stored in the cache).
-			jobs = append(jobs, job.dependencies...)
-			jobs = append(jobs, job)
-			linkerDependencies = append(linkerDependencies, job)
-		}
-		ldflags = append(ldflags, path)
+		jobs = append(jobs, job.dependencies...)
+		jobs = append(jobs, job)
+		linkerDependencies = append(linkerDependencies, job)
 	}
 
 	// Add libc dependency if needed.
 	root := goenv.Get("TINYGOROOT")
 	switch config.Target.Libc {
 	case "picolibc":
-		path, job, err := Picolibc.load(config.Triple(), config.CPU(), dir)
+		job, err := Picolibc.load(config.Triple(), config.CPU(), dir)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		if job != nil {
-			// The library needs to be compiled (cache miss).
-			jobs = append(jobs, job.dependencies...)
-			jobs = append(jobs, job)
-			linkerDependencies = append(linkerDependencies, job)
-		}
-		ldflags = append(ldflags, path)
+		// The library needs to be compiled (cache miss).
+		jobs = append(jobs, job.dependencies...)
+		jobs = append(jobs, job)
+		linkerDependencies = append(linkerDependencies, job)
 	case "wasi-libc":
 		path := filepath.Join(root, "lib/wasi-libc/sysroot/lib/wasm32-wasi/libc.a")
 		if _, err := os.Stat(path); os.IsNotExist(err) {
@@ -438,7 +431,8 @@ func Build(pkgName, outpath string, config *compileopts.Config, action func(Buil
 		outpath := filepath.Join(dir, "extra-"+strconv.Itoa(i)+"-"+filepath.Base(path)+".o")
 		job := &compileJob{
 			description: "compile extra file " + path,
-			run: func() error {
+			result:      outpath,
+			run: func(*compileJob) error {
 				err := runCCompiler(config.Target.Compiler, append(config.CFlags(), "-c", "-o", outpath, abspath)...)
 				if err != nil {
 					return &commandError{"failed to build", path, err}
@@ -448,7 +442,6 @@ func Build(pkgName, outpath string, config *compileopts.Config, action func(Buil
 		}
 		jobs = append(jobs, job)
 		linkerDependencies = append(linkerDependencies, job)
-		ldflags = append(ldflags, outpath)
 	}
 
 	// Add jobs to compile C files in all packages. This is part of CGo.
@@ -460,7 +453,8 @@ func Build(pkgName, outpath string, config *compileopts.Config, action func(Buil
 			outpath := filepath.Join(dir, "pkg"+strconv.Itoa(i)+"."+strconv.Itoa(j)+"-"+filepath.Base(file)+".o")
 			job := &compileJob{
 				description: "compile CGo file " + file,
-				run: func() error {
+				result:      outpath,
+				run: func(*compileJob) error {
 					err := runCCompiler(config.Target.Compiler, append(config.CFlags(), "-c", "-o", outpath, file)...)
 					if err != nil {
 						return &commandError{"failed to build", file, err}
@@ -470,7 +464,6 @@ func Build(pkgName, outpath string, config *compileopts.Config, action func(Buil
 			}
 			jobs = append(jobs, job)
 			linkerDependencies = append(linkerDependencies, job)
-			ldflags = append(ldflags, outpath)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -485,7 +478,13 @@ func Build(pkgName, outpath string, config *compileopts.Config, action func(Buil
 	jobs = append(jobs, &compileJob{
 		description:  "link",
 		dependencies: linkerDependencies,
-		run: func() error {
+		run: func(job *compileJob) error {
+			for _, dependency := range job.dependencies {
+				if dependency.result == "" {
+					return errors.New("dependency without result: " + dependency.description)
+				}
+				ldflags = append(ldflags, dependency.result)
+			}
 			err = link(config.Target.Linker, ldflags...)
 			if err != nil {
 				return &commandError{"failed to link", executable, err}
diff --git a/builder/jobs.go b/builder/jobs.go
index a7bf5ec0..2bc799d3 100644
--- a/builder/jobs.go
+++ b/builder/jobs.go
@@ -27,12 +27,23 @@ const (
 type compileJob struct {
 	description  string // description, only used for logging
 	dependencies []*compileJob
-	run          func() error
+	result       string // result (path)
+	run          func(*compileJob) (err error)
 	state        jobState
 	err          error         // error if finished
 	duration     time.Duration // how long it took to run this job (only set after finishing)
 }
 
+// dummyCompileJob returns a new *compileJob that produces an output without
+// doing anything. This can be useful where a *compileJob producing an output is
+// expected but nothing needs to be done, for example for a load from a cache.
+func dummyCompileJob(result string) *compileJob {
+	return &compileJob{
+		description: "<dummy>",
+		result:      result,
+	}
+}
+
 // readyToRun returns whether this job is ready to run: it is itself not yet
 // started and all dependencies are finished.
 func (job *compileJob) readyToRun() bool {
@@ -150,9 +161,11 @@ func nextJob(jobs []*compileJob) *compileJob {
 func jobWorker(workerChan, doneChan chan *compileJob) {
 	for job := range workerChan {
 		start := time.Now()
-		err := job.run()
-		if err != nil {
-			job.err = err
+		if job.run != nil {
+			err := job.run(job)
+			if err != nil {
+				job.err = err
+			}
 		}
 		job.duration = time.Since(start)
 		doneChan <- job
diff --git a/builder/library.go b/builder/library.go
index 40699491..0ce4a6fe 100644
--- a/builder/library.go
+++ b/builder/library.go
@@ -42,30 +42,28 @@ func (l *Library) sourcePaths(target string) []string {
 // The resulting file is stored in the provided tmpdir, which is expected to be
 // removed after the Load call.
 func (l *Library) Load(target, tmpdir string) (path string, err error) {
-	path, job, err := l.load(target, "", tmpdir)
+	job, err := l.load(target, "", tmpdir)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
-	if job != nil {
-		jobs := append([]*compileJob{job}, job.dependencies...)
-		err = runJobs(jobs)
-	}
-	return path, err
+	jobs := append([]*compileJob{job}, job.dependencies...)
+	err = runJobs(jobs)
+	return job.result, err
 }
 
-// load returns a path to the library file for the given target, loading it from
-// cache if possible. It will return a non-zero compiler job if the library
-// wasn't cached, this job (and its dependencies) must be run before the library
-// path is valid.
+// load returns a compile job to build this library file for the given target
+// and CPU. It may return a dummy compileJob if the library build is already
+// cached. The path is stored as job.result but is only valid if the job and
+// job.dependencies have been run.
 // The provided tmpdir will be used to store intermediary files and possibly the
 // output archive file, it is expected to be removed after use.
-func (l *Library) load(target, cpu, tmpdir string) (path string, job *compileJob, err error) {
+func (l *Library) load(target, cpu, tmpdir string) (job *compileJob, err error) {
 	// Try to load a precompiled library.
 	precompiledPath := filepath.Join(goenv.Get("TINYGOROOT"), "pkg", target, l.name+".a")
 	if _, err := os.Stat(precompiledPath); err == nil {
 		// Found a precompiled library for this OS/architecture. Return the path
 		// directly.
-		return precompiledPath, nil, nil
+		return dummyCompileJob(precompiledPath), nil
 	}
 
 	var outfile string
@@ -78,7 +76,7 @@ func (l *Library) load(target, cpu, tmpdir string) (path string, job *compileJob
 	// Try to fetch this library from the cache.
 	if path, err := cacheLoad(outfile, l.sourcePaths(target)); path != "" || err != nil {
 		// Cache hit.
-		return path, nil, err
+		return dummyCompileJob(path), nil
 	}
 	// Cache miss, build it now.
 
@@ -86,7 +84,7 @@ func (l *Library) load(target, cpu, tmpdir string) (path string, job *compileJob
 	dir := filepath.Join(tmpdir, "build-lib-"+l.name)
 	err = os.Mkdir(dir, 0777)
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", nil, err
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	// Precalculate the flags to the compiler invocation.
@@ -113,7 +111,8 @@ func (l *Library) load(target, cpu, tmpdir string) (path string, job *compileJob
 	arpath := filepath.Join(dir, l.name+".a")
 	job = &compileJob{
 		description: "ar " + l.name + ".a",
-		run: func() error {
+		result:      arpath,
+		run: func(*compileJob) error {
 			// Create an archive of all object files.
 			err := makeArchive(arpath, objs)
 			if err != nil {
@@ -133,7 +132,7 @@ func (l *Library) load(target, cpu, tmpdir string) (path string, job *compileJob
 		objs = append(objs, objpath)
 		job.dependencies = append(job.dependencies, &compileJob{
 			description: "compile " + srcpath,
-			run: func() error {
+			run: func(*compileJob) error {
 				var compileArgs []string
 				compileArgs = append(compileArgs, args...)
 				compileArgs = append(compileArgs, "-o", objpath, srcpath)
@@ -146,5 +145,5 @@ func (l *Library) load(target, cpu, tmpdir string) (path string, job *compileJob
 		})
 	}
 
-	return arpath, job, nil
+	return job, nil
 }