diff -up Macaulay2-1.1/configure.ac.optflags Macaulay2-1.1/configure.ac
--- Macaulay2-1.1/configure.ac.optflags	2008-03-11 15:02:14.000000000 -0500
+++ Macaulay2-1.1/configure.ac	2008-03-11 15:05:03.000000000 -0500
@@ -806,8 +806,8 @@ else M2_CPPFLAGS="$M2_CPPFLAGS -DNDEBUG"
 fi
 
 if test "$OPTIMIZE" = yes
-then CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -O3"
-     CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -O3"
+then CFLAGS="-O3 $CFLAGS"
+     CXXFLAGS="-O3 $CXXFLAGS"
 else CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -O0 -fno-inline"
      CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -O0 -fno-inline"
 fi