-_LT_DECL([], [AR_FLAGS], [1], [Flags to create an archive])
+
+# Use ARFLAGS variable as AR's operation code to sync the variable naming with
+# Automake. If both AR_FLAGS and ARFLAGS are specified, AR_FLAGS should have
+# higher priority because thats what people were doing historically (setting
+# ARFLAGS for automake and AR_FLAGS for libtool). FIXME: Make the AR_FLAGS
+# variable obsoleted/removed.
+
+test ${AR_FLAGS+y} || AR_FLAGS=${ARFLAGS-cr}
+lt_ar_flags=$AR_FLAGS
+_LT_DECL([], [lt_ar_flags], [0], [Flags to create an archive (by configure)])
+
+# Make AR_FLAGS overridable by 'make ARFLAGS='. Don't try to run-time override
+# by AR_FLAGS because that was never working and AR_FLAGS is about to die.
+_LT_DECL([], [AR_FLAGS], [\@S|@{ARFLAGS-"\@S|@lt_ar_flags"}],
+ [Flags to create an archive])