diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 71d054f0cd..bf1210705f 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-See README.md for useful information about working on this.
+1. See README.md for useful information about working on this.
+2. Never ever remove zig-cache, nether local nor global.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e08265d4b2..4b12629e8e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ zig0 aspires to be an interpreter of zig 0.14.0 C backend.
 
 # Testing
 
-Where the following $CC are supported: `clang`, `gcc` and `tcc`. Then:
+Where the following $CC are supported: `zig`, `clang`, `gcc` and `tcc`. Then:
 
     zig build test -Dcc=$CC
 
diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index c2ddd1ea79..1f2b340fd0 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 const std = @import("std");
+const builtin = @import("builtin");
 
 const headers = &[_][]const u8{
     "common.h",
@@ -39,48 +40,37 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) !void {
     const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
     const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});
 
-    const lib_mod = b.createModule(.{
-        .optimize = optimize,
-        .target = target,
-        .link_libc = true,
-    });
-    const lib = b.addLibrary(.{
-        .name = "tokenizer",
-        .root_module = lib_mod,
-    });
-
     const cc = b.option([]const u8, "cc", "C compiler") orelse "zig";
 
-    if (std.mem.eql(u8, cc, "zig"))
-        lib.root_module.addCSourceFiles(.{ .files = c_lib_files, .flags = cflags })
-    else for (c_lib_files) |cfile| {
-        const cc1 = b.addSystemCommand(&.{cc});
-        cc1.addArgs(cflags ++ .{"-g"});
-        cc1.addArg(switch (optimize) {
-            .Debug => "-O0",
-            .ReleaseFast, .ReleaseSafe => "-O3", // ubsan?
-            .ReleaseSmall => "-Os",
-        });
-        cc1.addArg("-c");
-        cc1.addFileArg(b.path(cfile));
-        cc1.addArg("-o");
-        lib.root_module.addObjectFile(cc1.addOutputFileArg(try std.fmt.allocPrint(
-            b.allocator,
-            "{s}.o",
-            .{cfile[0 .. cfile.len - 2]},
-        )));
-    }
-
-    const no_exec = b.option(bool, "no-exec", "Compile test binary without running it") orelse false;
-
     const test_step = b.step("test", "Run unit tests");
     const test_mod = b.createModule(.{
         .root_source_file = b.path("test_all.zig"),
         .optimize = optimize,
         .target = target,
     });
-    test_mod.linkLibrary(lib);
     test_mod.addIncludePath(b.path("."));
+
+    // TODO(zig 0.16+): remove this if block entirely; keep only the addLibrary branch.
+    // Also delete addCObjectsDirectly.
+    // Zig 0.15's ELF archive parser fails on archives containing odd-sized objects
+    // (off-by-one after 2-byte alignment). This is fixed on zig master/0.16.
+    if (comptime builtin.zig_version.order(.{ .major = 0, .minor = 16, .patch = 0 }) == .lt) {
+        addCObjectsDirectly(b, test_mod, cc, optimize);
+    } else {
+        const lib_mod = b.createModule(.{
+            .optimize = optimize,
+            .target = target,
+            .link_libc = true,
+        });
+        const lib = b.addLibrary(.{
+            .name = "tokenizer",
+            .root_module = lib_mod,
+        });
+        addCSources(b, lib.root_module, cc, optimize);
+        test_mod.linkLibrary(lib);
+    }
+
+    const no_exec = b.option(bool, "no-exec", "Compile test binary without running it") orelse false;
     const test_exe = b.addTest(.{ .root_module = test_mod });
     if (no_exec) {
         const install = b.addInstallArtifact(test_exe, .{});
@@ -132,3 +122,37 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) !void {
     for (all_c_files) |cfile| cppcheck.addFileArg(b.path(cfile));
     lint_step.dependOn(&cppcheck.step);
 }
+
+fn addCSources(
+    b: *std.Build,
+    mod: *std.Build.Module,
+    cc: []const u8,
+    optimize: std.builtin.OptimizeMode,
+) void {
+    if (std.mem.eql(u8, cc, "zig")) {
+        mod.addCSourceFiles(.{ .files = c_lib_files, .flags = cflags });
+    } else for (c_lib_files) |cfile| {
+        const cc1 = b.addSystemCommand(&.{cc});
+        cc1.addArgs(cflags ++ .{"-g"});
+        cc1.addArg(switch (optimize) {
+            .Debug => "-O0",
+            .ReleaseFast, .ReleaseSafe => "-O3",
+            .ReleaseSmall => "-Os",
+        });
+        cc1.addArg("-c");
+        cc1.addFileArg(b.path(cfile));
+        cc1.addArg("-o");
+        mod.addObjectFile(cc1.addOutputFileArg(b.fmt("{s}.o", .{cfile[0 .. cfile.len - 2]})));
+    }
+}
+
+// TODO(zig 0.16+): delete this function.
+fn addCObjectsDirectly(
+    b: *std.Build,
+    mod: *std.Build.Module,
+    cc: []const u8,
+    optimize: std.builtin.OptimizeMode,
+) void {
+    addCSources(b, mod, cc, optimize);
+    mod.linkSystemLibrary("c", .{});
+}