--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -865,7 +865,6 @@
 
     # -Winvalid-pch Warn if a precompiled header (see Precompiled Headers) is found in the search path but can't be used.
     env.Append( CCFLAGS=["-fPIC",
-                         "-ggdb",
                          "-pthread",
                          "-Wall",
                          "-Wsign-compare",
@@ -873,13 +872,13 @@
                          "-Winvalid-pch"] )
     # env.Append( " -Wconversion" ) TODO: this doesn't really work yet
     if linux or darwin:
-        env.Append( CCFLAGS=["-pipe"] )
         if not has_option("disable-warnings-as-errors"):
             env.Append( CCFLAGS=["-Werror"] )
 
     env.Append( CPPDEFINES=["_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64"] )
-    env.Append( CXXFLAGS=["-Wnon-virtual-dtor", "-Woverloaded-virtual"] )
     env.Append( LINKFLAGS=["-fPIC"] )
+    env.Append( CXXFLAGS=os.environ['CXXFLAGS'] )
+    env.Append( LINKFLAGS=os.environ['LDFLAGS'] )
 
     # SERVER-9761: Ensure early detection of missing symbols in dependent libraries at program
     # startup.
@@ -905,11 +904,6 @@
         env.Append( CXXFLAGS=" -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage " )
         env.Append( LINKFLAGS=" -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage " )
 
-    if optBuild:
-        env.Append( CCFLAGS=["-O3"] )
-    else:
-        env.Append( CCFLAGS=["-O0"] )
-
     if debugBuild:
         if not optBuild:
             env.Append( CCFLAGS=["-fstack-protector"] )
@@ -932,7 +926,6 @@
 except OSError:
     pass
 
-env.Prepend(CPPPATH=['$VARIANT_DIR/third_party/gtest-1.7.0/include'])
 
 boostSuffixList = ["-mt", ""]
 if get_option("boost-lib-search-suffixes") is not None:
@@ -1143,6 +1136,7 @@
         # Clang likes to warn about unused functions, which seems a tad aggressive and breaks
         # -Werror, which we want to be able to use.
         AddToCCFLAGSIfSupported(myenv, '-Wno-unused-function')
+        AddToCCFLAGSIfSupported(myenv, '-Wno-unused-variable')
 
         # TODO: Note that the following two flags are added to CCFLAGS even though they are
         # really C++ specific. We need to do this because SCons passes CXXFLAGS *before*