diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0c615647f..a4ba5837d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ include(cmake_variables_helper)
 
 if(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
 	include_directories(${CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT}/usr/include/libxml2)
-	set(SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES} -lxml2 -lxslt -lsqlite3)
+	LIST(APPEND SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES -lxml2 -lxslt -lsqlite3)
 else()
 	pkg_config_library(LIBXML libxml-2.0 REQUIRED)
 	pkg_config_library(LIBSQLITE3 sqlite3 REQUIRED)
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ if (SUBSURFACE_TARGET_EXECUTABLE MATCHES "DesktopExecutable")
 		LIST(APPEND QT_EXTRA_COMPONENTS PrintSupport)
 		# Because Qt5WebKitWidgets isn't a part of the "regular" Qt5, we can't get it the normal way
 		find_package(Qt5WebKitWidgets REQUIRED)
-		set(SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES} Qt5::WebKitWidgets)
+		LIST(APPEND SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES Qt5::WebKitWidgets)
 	endif()
 elseif (SUBSURFACE_TARGET_EXECUTABLE MATCHES "MobileExecutable")
 	if(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
@@ -278,18 +278,18 @@ if(ANDROID)
 	set(NO_USERMANUAL ON)
 	set(MAKE_TESTS OFF)
 	list(APPEND QT_EXTRA_COMPONENTS AndroidExtras)
-	set(SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES} -llog)
+	LIST(APPEND SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES -llog)
 elseif(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Linux")
 	# add pthread to the end of the library list on Linux
 	# this is only needed on Ubuntu
 	# but shouldn't hurt on other Linux versions
 	# in some builds we appear to be missing libz for some strange reason...
-	set(SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES} -lz -lpthread)
+	LIST(APPEND SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES -lz -lpthread)
 
 	# Test for ARM processor (Raspberry Pi) and add libGLESv2 if found
 	if (CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR STREQUAL "armv7l" OR CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR STREQUAL "armv6l")
 		message (STATUS "Found ARM processor. Adding libGLESv2")
-		set(SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES} -lGLESv2)
+		LIST(APPEND SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES -lGLESv2)
 		set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH TRUE)
 	endif()
 elseif(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ elseif(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
 	)
 	find_library(APP_SERVICES_LIBRARY ApplicationServices)
 	find_library(HID_LIB HidApi)
-	set(SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES} ${HID_LIB})
+	LIST(APPEND SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${HID_LIB})
 	set(EXTRA_LIBS ${APP_SERVICES_LIBRARY})
 	set(ICON_FILE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/packaging/macosx/Subsurface.icns)
 	if (SUBSURFACE_TARGET_EXECUTABLE MATCHES "MobileExecutable")
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ elseif(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
 	set_source_files_properties(${ICON_FILE} PROPERTIES MACOSX_PACKAGE_LOCATION "Resources")
 	set(SUBSURFACE_PKG MACOSX_BUNDLE ${ICON_FILE})
 elseif(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Windows")
-	set(SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES} -lwsock32 -lws2_32)
+	LIST(APPEND SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES -lwsock32 -lws2_32)
 	remove_definitions(-DUNICODE)
 	add_definitions(-mwindows -D_WIN32)
 endif()
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ if(NOT ANDROID)
 endif()
 
 #set up the subsurface_link_libraries variable
-set(SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES} ${LIBDIVECOMPUTER_LIBRARIES} ${LIBGIT2_LIBRARIES} ${LIBUSB_LIBRARIES} ${LIBMTP_LIBRARIES})
+LIST(APPEND SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${LIBDIVECOMPUTER_LIBRARIES} ${LIBGIT2_LIBRARIES} ${LIBUSB_LIBRARIES} ${LIBMTP_LIBRARIES})
 if (NOT SUBSURFACE_TARGET_EXECUTABLE MATCHES "DownloaderExecutable")
 	if(USINGQT6)
 		if(MAPSUPPORT)
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ endif()
 
 # hack to build successfully on LGTM
 if(DEFINED ENV{LGTM_SRC})
-	set(SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES ${SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES} -lgssapi_krb5 -lhttp_parser)
+	LIST(APPEND SUBSURFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES -lgssapi_krb5 -lhttp_parser)
 endif()
 
 # include translations