diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 7de4f5070..6a41e6ef6 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -298,10 +298,14 @@ fn configureStage2(b: *Builder, exe: var, ctx: Context) !void {
     dependOnLib(b, exe, ctx.llvm);
 
     if (exe.target.getOsTag() == .linux) {
-        try addCxxKnownPath(b, ctx, exe, "libstdc++.a",
-            \\Unable to determine path to libstdc++.a
-            \\On Fedora, install libstdc++-static and try again.
-        );
+        // First we try to static link against gcc libstdc++. If that doesn't work,
+        // we fall back to -lc++ and cross our fingers.
+        addCxxKnownPath(b, ctx, exe, "libstdc++.a", "") catch |err| switch (err) {
+            error.RequiredLibraryNotFound => {
+                exe.linkSystemLibrary("c++");
+            },
+            else => |e| return e,
+        };
 
         exe.linkSystemLibrary("pthread");
     } else if (exe.target.isFreeBSD()) {
@@ -320,7 +324,7 @@ fn configureStage2(b: *Builder, exe: var, ctx: Context) !void {
                 // System compiler, not gcc.
                 exe.linkSystemLibrary("c++");
             },
-            else => return err,
+            else => |e| return e,
         }
     }