diff --git a/etc/rustc-with-gold b/etc/rustc-with-gold
index 7d2a05bb47c..077aa7f0d0b 100755
--- a/etc/rustc-with-gold
+++ b/etc/rustc-with-gold
@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-EXTRA_ARGS=""
-which ld.gold > /dev/null 2>&1 && EXTRA_ARGS="-C link-args=-fuse-ld=gold"
-rustc $EXTRA_ARGS "$@"
+rustc -C link-args=-fuse-ld=gold "$@"
diff --git a/python/servo/command_base.py b/python/servo/command_base.py
index 15f3d28ef0a..5beff5d4111 100644
--- a/python/servo/command_base.py
+++ b/python/servo/command_base.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import os
 from os import path
 import contextlib
 import subprocess
+from subprocess import PIPE
 import sys
 import toml
 
@@ -303,7 +304,9 @@ class CommandBase(object):
             env['HOST_FILE'] = hosts_file_path
 
         env['RUSTDOC'] = path.join(self.context.topdir, 'etc', 'rustdoc-with-private')
-        env['RUSTC'] = path.join(self.context.topdir, 'etc', 'rustc-with-gold')
+
+        if subprocess.call(['which', 'ld.gold'], stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE) == 0:
+            env['RUSTC'] = path.join(self.context.topdir, 'etc', 'rustc-with-gold')
 
         return env