diff --git a/Configurations/00-base-templates.conf b/Configurations/00-base-templates.conf
index 72cbde203f..0d0f8b8a7f 100644
--- a/Configurations/00-base-templates.conf
+++ b/Configurations/00-base-templates.conf
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ my %targets=(
 	thread_defines	=> [],
 
 	apps_aux_src	=> "",
+	apps_init_src	=> "",
 	cpuid_asm_src	=> "mem_clr.c",
 	uplink_aux_src	=> "",
 	bn_asm_src	=> "bn_asm.c",
@@ -134,7 +135,7 @@ my %targets=(
 
     uplink_common => {
 	template	=> 1,
-	apps_aux_src	=> add("../ms/applink.c"),
+	apps_init_src	=> add("../ms/applink.c"),
 	uplink_aux_src	=> add("../ms/uplink.c"),
 	defines		=> add("OPENSSL_USE_APPLINK"),
     },
diff --git a/Configurations/10-main.conf b/Configurations/10-main.conf
index 62fbb60f1e..70b01046e7 100644
--- a/Configurations/10-main.conf
+++ b/Configurations/10-main.conf
@@ -1852,7 +1852,8 @@ my %targets = (
         dso_scheme       => "vms",
         thread_scheme    => "pthreads",
 
-        apps_aux_src     => "vms_decc_init.c vms_term_sock.c",
+        apps_aux_src     => "vms_term_sock.c",
+        apps_init_src    => "vms_decc_init.c",
     },
 
     "vms-alpha" => {
diff --git a/Configurations/README b/Configurations/README
index aa0c5fba8b..26cd0c6e44 100644
--- a/Configurations/README
+++ b/Configurations/README
@@ -212,8 +212,14 @@ In each table entry, the following keys are significant:
                                                 export vars as
                                                 accessor functions.
 
-        apps_extra_src  => Extra source to build apps/openssl, as
-                           needed by the target.
+        apps_aux_src    => Extra source to build apps/openssl and other
+                           apps, as needed by the target and that can be
+                           collected in a library.
+        apps_init_src   => Init source to build apps/openssl and other
+                           apps, as needed by the target.  This code
+                           cannot be placed in a library, as the rest
+                           of the code isn't expected to link to it
+                           explicitely.
         cpuid_asm_src   => assembler implementation of cpuid code as
                            well as OPENSSL_cleanse().
                            Default to mem_clr.c
diff --git a/Configurations/windows-checker.pm b/Configurations/windows-checker.pm
index de46fbc1df..4b7105df33 100644
--- a/Configurations/windows-checker.pm
+++ b/Configurations/windows-checker.pm
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ use Config;
 # we expect for the platform
 use File::Spec::Functions qw(:DEFAULT rel2abs);
 
-if (rel2abs('.') !~ m|\\|) {
+if (!$ENV{CONFIGURE_INSIST} && rel2abs('.') !~ m|\\|) {
     die <<EOF;
 
 ******************************************************************************
diff --git a/apps/build.info b/apps/build.info
index 996e5a6cfa..4a36ab564a 100644
--- a/apps/build.info
+++ b/apps/build.info
@@ -1,21 +1,27 @@
 {- our $tsget_name = $config{target} =~ /^(VC|vms)-/ ? "tsget.pl" : "tsget";
    our @apps_openssl_src =
-       ( qw(openssl.c
-            asn1pars.c ca.c ciphers.c cms.c crl.c crl2p7.c dgst.c dhparam.c
-            dsa.c dsaparam.c ec.c ecparam.c enc.c engine.c errstr.c gendsa.c
-            genpkey.c genrsa.c nseq.c ocsp.c passwd.c pkcs12.c pkcs7.c pkcs8.c
-            pkey.c pkeyparam.c pkeyutl.c prime.c rand.c req.c rsa.c rsautl.c
-            s_client.c s_server.c s_time.c sess_id.c smime.c speed.c spkac.c
-            srp.c ts.c verify.c version.c x509.c rehash.c storeutl.c
-            apps.c opt.c s_cb.c s_socket.c
-            app_rand.c),
-          split(/\s+/, $target{apps_aux_src}) );
+       qw(openssl.c
+          asn1pars.c ca.c ciphers.c cms.c crl.c crl2p7.c dgst.c dhparam.c
+          dsa.c dsaparam.c ec.c ecparam.c enc.c engine.c errstr.c gendsa.c
+          genpkey.c genrsa.c nseq.c ocsp.c passwd.c pkcs12.c pkcs7.c pkcs8.c
+          pkey.c pkeyparam.c pkeyutl.c prime.c rand.c req.c rsa.c rsautl.c
+          s_client.c s_server.c s_time.c sess_id.c smime.c speed.c spkac.c
+          srp.c ts.c verify.c version.c x509.c rehash.c storeutl.c);
+   our @apps_lib_src =
+       ( qw(apps.c opt.c s_cb.c s_socket.c app_rand.c),
+         split(/\s+/, $target{apps_aux_src}) );
+   our @apps_init_src = split(/\s+/, $target{apps_init_src});
    "" -}
 IF[{- !$disabled{apps} -}]
+  LIBS_NO_INST=libapps.a
+  SOURCE[libapps.a]={- join(" ", @apps_lib_src) -}
+  INCLUDE[libapps.a]=.. ../include
+
   PROGRAMS=openssl
+  SOURCE[openssl]={- join(" ", @apps_init_src) -}
   SOURCE[openssl]={- join(" ", @apps_openssl_src) -}
   INCLUDE[openssl]=.. ../include
-  DEPEND[openssl]=../libssl
+  DEPEND[openssl]=libapps.a ../libssl
 
   {- join("\n  ", map { (my $x = $_) =~ s|\.c$|.o|; "DEPEND[$x]=progs.h" }
                   @apps_openssl_src) -}