diff --git a/lib/spack/env/cc b/lib/spack/env/cc
index 5e6ed93985..a19346ce97 100755
--- a/lib/spack/env/cc
+++ b/lib/spack/env/cc
@@ -199,19 +199,20 @@ while [ -n "$1" ]; do
                 other_args+=("-Wl,$arg")
             fi
             ;;
-        -Xlinker,*)
-            arg="${1#-Xlinker,}"
-            if [ -z "$arg" ]; then shift; arg="$1"; fi
+        -Xlinker)
+            shift; arg="$1";
             if [[ $arg = -rpath=* ]]; then
                 rpaths+=("${arg#-rpath=}")
             elif [[ $arg = -rpath ]]; then
                 shift; arg="$1"
-                if [[ $arg != -Xlinker,* ]]; then
-                    die "-Xlinker,-rpath was not followed by -Xlinker,*"
+                if [[ $arg != -Xlinker ]]; then
+                    die "-Xlinker -rpath was not followed by -Xlinker <arg>"
                 fi
-                rpaths+=("${arg#-Xlinker,}")
+                shift; arg="$1"
+                rpaths+=("$arg")
             else
-                other_args+=("-Xlinker,$arg")
+                other_args+=("-Xlinker")
+                other_args+=("$arg")
             fi
             ;;
         *)
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/cc.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/cc.py
index 11420ec44a..f3f6d4a22e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/cc.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/cc.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
     '-llib1', '-llib2',
     'arg4',
     '-Wl,--end-group',
-    '-Xlinker,-rpath', '-Xlinker,/third/rpath', '-Xlinker,-rpath', '-Xlinker,/fourth/rpath',
+    '-Xlinker', '-rpath', '-Xlinker', '/third/rpath', '-Xlinker', '-rpath', '-Xlinker', '/fourth/rpath',
     '-llib3', '-llib4',
     'arg5', 'arg6']