diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 823bdf8c9..089ebe557 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ rclone:
 	mv -v `go env GOPATH`/bin/rclone`go env GOEXE`.new `go env GOPATH`/bin/rclone`go env GOEXE`
 
 test_all:
-	go install --ldflags "-s -X github.com/rclone/rclone/fs.Version=$(TAG)" $(BUILDTAGS) github.com/rclone/rclone/fstest/test_all
+	go install --ldflags "-s -X github.com/rclone/rclone/fs.Version=$(TAG)" $(BUILDTAGS) $(BUILD_ARGS) github.com/rclone/rclone/fstest/test_all
 
 vars:
 	@echo SHELL="'$(SHELL)'"
@@ -188,10 +188,10 @@ upload_github:
 	./bin/upload-github $(TAG)
 
 cross:	doc
-	go run bin/cross-compile.go -release current $(BUILDTAGS) $(TAG)
+	go run bin/cross-compile.go -release current $(BUILDTAGS) $(BUILD_ARGS) $(TAG)
 
 beta:
-	go run bin/cross-compile.go $(BUILDTAGS) $(TAG)
+	go run bin/cross-compile.go $(BUILDTAGS) $(BUILD_ARGS) $(TAG)
 	rclone -v copy build/ memstore:pub-rclone-org/$(TAG)
 	@echo Beta release ready at https://pub.rclone.org/$(TAG)/
 
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ log_since_last_release:
 	git log $(LAST_TAG)..
 
 compile_all:
-	go run bin/cross-compile.go -compile-only $(BUILDTAGS) $(TAG)
+	go run bin/cross-compile.go -compile-only $(BUILDTAGS) $(BUILD_ARGS) $(TAG)
 
 ci_upload:
 	sudo chown -R $$USER build
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ endif
 
 ci_beta:
 	git log $(LAST_TAG).. > /tmp/git-log.txt
-	go run bin/cross-compile.go -release beta-latest -git-log /tmp/git-log.txt $(BUILD_FLAGS) $(BUILDTAGS) $(TAG)
+	go run bin/cross-compile.go -release beta-latest -git-log /tmp/git-log.txt $(BUILD_FLAGS) $(BUILDTAGS) $(BUILD_ARGS) $(TAG)
 	rclone --config bin/travis.rclone.conf -v copy --exclude '*beta-latest*' build/ $(BETA_UPLOAD)
 ifeq ($(or $(BRANCH_PATH),$(RELEASE_TAG)),)
 	rclone --config bin/travis.rclone.conf -v copy --include '*beta-latest*' --include version.txt build/ $(BETA_UPLOAD_ROOT)$(BETA_SUBDIR)
diff --git a/bin/cross-compile.go b/bin/cross-compile.go
index d40f3798b..29ca63b1e 100644
--- a/bin/cross-compile.go
+++ b/bin/cross-compile.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ var (
 	cgo         = flag.Bool("cgo", false, "Use cgo for the build")
 	noClean     = flag.Bool("no-clean", false, "Don't clean the build directory before running.")
 	tags        = flag.String("tags", "", "Space separated list of build tags")
+	buildmode   = flag.String("buildmode", "", "Passed to go build -buildmode flag")
 	compileOnly = flag.Bool("compile-only", false, "Just build the binary, not the zip.")
 )
 
@@ -300,8 +301,15 @@ func compileArch(version, goos, goarch, dir string) bool {
 		"-trimpath",
 		"-o", output,
 		"-tags", *tags,
-		"..",
 	}
+	if *buildmode != "" {
+		args = append(args,
+			"-buildmode", *buildmode,
+		)
+	}
+	args = append(args,
+		"..",
+	)
 	env := []string{
 		"GOOS=" + goos,
 		"GOARCH=" + stripVersion(goarch),