diff --git a/qemu.spec b/qemu.spec
index 097bdb0..40899bb 100644
--- a/qemu.spec
+++ b/qemu.spec
@@ -337,6 +337,12 @@ such as kvm_stat.
 extraldflags="-Wl,--build-id";
 buildldflags="VL_LDFLAGS=-Wl,--build-id"
 
+%ifarch s390
+# drop -g flag to prevent memory exhaustion by linker
+%global optflags %(echo %{optflags} | sed 's/-g//')
+sed -i.debug 's/-g//g' configure
+%endif
+
 %ifarch %{ix86} x86_64
 # sdl outputs to alsa or pulseaudio depending on system config, but it's broken (#495964)
 # alsa works, but causes huge CPU load due to bugs
@@ -347,7 +353,7 @@ buildldflags="VL_LDFLAGS=-Wl,--build-id"
             --audio-drv-list=pa,sdl,alsa,oss \
             --disable-strip \
             --extra-ldflags=$extraldflags \
-            --extra-cflags="$RPM_OPT_FLAGS" \
+            --extra-cflags="%{optflags}" \
 %ifarch x86_64
             --enable-spice \
 %endif
@@ -373,7 +379,7 @@ make clean
     --disable-kvm \
     --disable-strip \
     --extra-ldflags=$extraldflags \
-    --extra-cflags="$RPM_OPT_FLAGS" \
+    --extra-cflags="%{optflags}" \
     --disable-xen \
 %ifarch x86_64
     --enable-spice \