diff --git a/src/librustc_codegen_ssa/back/link.rs b/src/librustc_codegen_ssa/back/link.rs
index a4eef2374c241..fb6154eb39261 100644
--- a/src/librustc_codegen_ssa/back/link.rs
+++ b/src/librustc_codegen_ssa/back/link.rs
@@ -839,7 +839,19 @@ pub fn linker_and_flavor(sess: &Session) -> (PathBuf, LinkerFlavor) {
                             "emcc"
                         }
                     }
-                    LinkerFlavor::Gcc => "cc",
+                    LinkerFlavor::Gcc => {
+                        if cfg!(target_os = "solaris") {
+                            // On historical Solaris systems, "cc" may have
+                            // been Sun Studio, which is not flag-compatible
+                            // with "gcc".  This history casts a long shadow,
+                            // and many modern illumos distributions today
+                            // ship GCC as "gcc" without also making it
+                            // available as "cc".
+                            "gcc"
+                        } else {
+                            "cc"
+                        }
+                    }
                     LinkerFlavor::Ld => "ld",
                     LinkerFlavor::Msvc => "link.exe",
                     LinkerFlavor::Lld(_) => "lld",