diff --git a/recipes/libs/cairo/recipe.toml b/recipes/libs/cairo/recipe.toml
index 17e81b9b5..47b1d5ebd 100644
--- a/recipes/libs/cairo/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/libs/cairo/recipe.toml
@@ -28,9 +28,8 @@ script = """
 DYNAMIC_INIT
 #TODO: fix mutex implementation
 #TODO: why are math defines missing?
-#TODO: why is -lexpat not automatic?
+CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -DCAIRO_NO_MUTEX=1 -DM_SQRT2=1.41421356237309504880 -DM_LN2=0.69314718055994530942"
 cookbook_meson \
-    -Dc_args="-DCAIRO_NO_MUTEX=1 -DM_SQRT2=1.41421356237309504880 -DM_LN2=0.69314718055994530942 -lexpat" \
     -Dxlib-xcb=enabled \
     -Dtests=disabled
 """
diff --git a/recipes/libs/gstreamer/recipe.toml b/recipes/libs/gstreamer/recipe.toml
index ec9309186..4944a00b2 100644
--- a/recipes/libs/gstreamer/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/libs/gstreamer/recipe.toml
@@ -62,8 +62,8 @@ DYNAMIC_INIT
 export GLIB_GENMARSHAL="$(which glib-genmarshal)"
 export GLIB_MKENUMS="$(which glib-mkenums)"
 
+CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -DM_LN2=0.69314718055994530942"
 cookbook_meson \
-    -Dc_args="-DM_LN2=0.69314718055994530942" \
     -Ddevtools=disabled \
     -Dexamples=disabled \
     -Dlibav=disabled \
diff --git a/recipes/libs/mesa/recipe.toml b/recipes/libs/mesa/recipe.toml
index d473cc8c2..d581c1b31 100644
--- a/recipes/libs/mesa/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/libs/mesa/recipe.toml
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ dependencies = [
 script = """
 DYNAMIC_INIT
 
-export CFLAGS+="-I${COOKBOOK_SYSROOT}/include -DHAVE_PTHREAD=1"
-export CPPFLAGS+="-I${COOKBOOK_SYSROOT}/include -DHAVE_PTHREAD=1"
+export CFLAGS+=" -DHAVE_PTHREAD=1"
+export CPPFLAGS+=" -DHAVE_PTHREAD=1"
 export LLVM_CONFIG="${TARGET}-llvm-config"
 
 if [[ -n "${COOKBOOK_PREFER_STATIC}" ]]; then
diff --git a/recipes/libs/pango/recipe.toml b/recipes/libs/pango/recipe.toml
index ce771723f..6ea4fcb58 100644
--- a/recipes/libs/pango/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/libs/pango/recipe.toml
@@ -33,9 +33,7 @@ dependencies = [
 template = "custom"
 script = """
 DYNAMIC_INIT
-#TODO: why are these libs not automatic?
 cookbook_meson \
-    -Dc_args="-lfontconfig -lexpat -lpixman-1 -lpng -lz -lcairo" \
     -Dbuild-examples=false \
     -Dbuild-testsuite=false
 """
diff --git a/recipes/wip/libs/gtk/gtk3/recipe.toml b/recipes/wip/libs/gtk/gtk3/recipe.toml
index 63def6794..da2310916 100644
--- a/recipes/wip/libs/gtk/gtk3/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/wip/libs/gtk/gtk3/recipe.toml
@@ -43,9 +43,8 @@ dependencies = [
 template = "custom"
 script = """
 DYNAMIC_INIT
-#TODO: why are libs not automatically detected?
+CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -DM_SQRT2=1.41421356237309504880"
 cookbook_meson \
-    -Dc_args="-DM_SQRT2=1.41421356237309504880 -lXext -lX11 -lxcb -lXau" \
     -Dintrospection=false \
     -Dwayland_backend=false
 """
diff --git a/src/bin/cook.rs b/src/bin/cook.rs
index 567a0eef3..ca2e4484b 100644
--- a/src/bin/cook.rs
+++ b/src/bin/cook.rs
@@ -965,6 +965,9 @@ function cookbook_meson {
     echo "[properties]" >> cross_file.txt
     echo "needs_exe_wrapper = true" >> cross_file.txt
     echo "sys_root = '${COOKBOOK_SYSROOT}'" >> cross_file.txt
+    echo "c_args = [$(printf "'%s', " $CFLAGS | sed 's/, $//')]" >> cross_file.txt
+    echo "cpp_args = [$(printf "'%s', " $CPPFLAGS | sed 's/, $//')]" >> cross_file.txt
+    echo "c_link_args = [$(printf "'%s', " $LDFLAGS | sed 's/, $//')]" >> cross_file.txt
 
     unset AR
     unset AS