diff --git a/common/build-style/cmake.sh b/common/build-style/cmake.sh
index e1f9f18dffb..136312ed7b4 100644
--- a/common/build-style/cmake.sh
+++ b/common/build-style/cmake.sh
@@ -58,12 +58,7 @@ _EOF
 	fi
 	cmake_args+=" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr"
 	cmake_args+=" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release"
-
-	if [ "$XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE" = "i686" ]; then
-		cmake_args+=" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib32"
-	else
-		cmake_args+=" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib"
-	fi
+	cmake_args+=" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib${XBPS_TARGET_WORDSIZE}"
 
 	if [[ $build_helper = *"qemu"* ]]; then
 		echo "SET(CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR /usr/bin/qemu-${XBPS_TARGET_QEMU_MACHINE}-static)" \
diff --git a/common/build-style/meson.sh b/common/build-style/meson.sh
index 9b92279148c..6eb2dc530da 100644
--- a/common/build-style/meson.sh
+++ b/common/build-style/meson.sh
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ do_configure() {
 
 	${meson_cmd} \
 		--prefix=/usr \
-		--libdir=/usr/lib \
+		--libdir=/usr/lib${XBPS_TARGET_WORDSIZE} \
 		--libexecdir=/usr/libexec \
 		--bindir=/usr/bin \
 		--sbindir=/usr/bin \
diff --git a/common/build-style/waf.sh b/common/build-style/waf.sh
index 88e908247a7..e943765f9b1 100644
--- a/common/build-style/waf.sh
+++ b/common/build-style/waf.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 do_configure() {
 	: ${configure_script:=waf}
 
-	PYTHON=/usr/bin/python2 python2 ${configure_script} configure --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib ${configure_args}
+	PYTHON=/usr/bin/python2 python2 ${configure_script} configure \
+		--prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib${XBPS_TARGET_WORDSIZE} ${configure_args}
 }
 
 do_build() {
diff --git a/common/build-style/waf3.sh b/common/build-style/waf3.sh
index 0941214e969..54fd221172b 100644
--- a/common/build-style/waf3.sh
+++ b/common/build-style/waf3.sh
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ do_configure() {
 	fi
 
 	PYTHON=/usr/bin/python3 python3 ${configure_script} configure \
-		--prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib ${configure_args} ${cross_args}
+		--prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib${XBPS_TARGET_WORDSIZE} \
+		${configure_args} ${cross_args}
 }
 
 do_build() {
diff --git a/common/environment/configure/gnu-configure-args.sh b/common/environment/configure/gnu-configure-args.sh
index 44f5d7e0468..1c5f51b35cc 100644
--- a/common/environment/configure/gnu-configure-args.sh
+++ b/common/environment/configure/gnu-configure-args.sh
@@ -10,11 +10,10 @@ export configure_args="--prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --sbindir=/usr/bin --bind
 . ${XBPS_COMMONDIR}/build-profiles/${XBPS_MACHINE}.sh
 export configure_args+=" --host=$XBPS_TRIPLET --build=$XBPS_TRIPLET"
 
-if [ "$XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE" = "i686" ]; then
-	# on x86 use /usr/lib32 as libdir, but just as fake directory,
-	# because /usr/lib32 is a symlink to /usr/lib in void.
-	export configure_args+=" --libdir=/usr/lib32"
-fi
+# Always use wordsize-specific libdir even though the real path is lib
+# This is to make sure 32-bit and 64-bit libs can coexist when looking
+# up things (the opposite-libdir is always symlinked as libNN)
+export configure_args+=" --libdir=/usr/lib${XBPS_TARGET_WORDSIZE}"
 
 _AUTOCONFCACHEDIR=${XBPS_COMMONDIR}/environment/configure/autoconf_cache