diff --git a/toolchain/diagnostics/kind.def b/toolchain/diagnostics/kind.def
index e2f983c7ba3e..624c75d1a012 100644
--- a/toolchain/diagnostics/kind.def
+++ b/toolchain/diagnostics/kind.def
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ CARBON_DIAGNOSTIC_KIND(FailureBuildingRuntimes)
 CARBON_DIAGNOSTIC_KIND(FailureRunningClang)
 CARBON_DIAGNOSTIC_KIND(FailureRunningClangToLink)
 CARBON_DIAGNOSTIC_KIND(FormatMultipleFilesToOneOutput)
+CARBON_DIAGNOSTIC_KIND(LinkObjectFilesMissing)
+CARBON_DIAGNOSTIC_KIND(LinkOutputOptionMissing)
 CARBON_DIAGNOSTIC_KIND(ToolFuzzingDisallowed)
 
 // ============================================================================
diff --git a/toolchain/driver/BUILD b/toolchain/driver/BUILD
index 43f3113b5603..70a1537dd138 100644
--- a/toolchain/driver/BUILD
+++ b/toolchain/driver/BUILD
@@ -248,6 +248,7 @@ cc_test(
         "//common:error_test_helpers",
         "//common:filesystem",
         "//common:raw_string_ostream",
+        "//testing/base:capture_std_streams",
         "//testing/base:file_helpers",
         "//testing/base:global_exe_path",
         "//testing/base:gtest_main",
diff --git a/toolchain/driver/driver_test.cpp b/toolchain/driver/driver_test.cpp
index b95ce388c5f4..94d72eea8cb9 100644
--- a/toolchain/driver/driver_test.cpp
+++ b/toolchain/driver/driver_test.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "llvm/Support/Error.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/FormatVariadic.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/JSON.h"
+#include "testing/base/capture_std_streams.h"
 #include "testing/base/file_helpers.h"
 #include "testing/base/global_exe_path.h"
 #include "toolchain/testing/yaml_test_helpers.h"
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ namespace Carbon {
 namespace {
 
 using ::testing::_;
+using Testing::CallWithCapturedOutput;
 using ::testing::ContainsRegex;
 using ::testing::HasSubstr;
 using Testing::IsSuccess;
@@ -248,10 +250,11 @@ TEST_F(DriverTest, Link) {
       << test_error_stream_.TakeStr();
 
   // Now link this into a binary. Note that we suppress building runtimes on
-  // demand here as no runtimes should be needed for the empty program.
+  // demand here as no runtimes should be needed for the empty program. We also
+  // pass some system library link flags through to the underlying Clang layer.
   EXPECT_TRUE(driver_
                   .RunCommand({"--no-build-runtimes", "link", "--output=test",
-                               "test.o"})
+                               "test.o", "--", "-lc", "-lm"})
                   .success);
   EXPECT_THAT(test_error_stream_.TakeStr(), StrEq(""));
 
@@ -266,6 +269,46 @@ TEST_F(DriverTest, Link) {
   EXPECT_TRUE(result->getBinary()->isObject());
 }
 
+TEST_F(DriverTest, LinkWithFlagLikeFiles) {
+  auto scope = ScopedTempWorkingDir();
+
+  // First compile a file to get a linkable object.
+  MakeTestFile("fn Run() {}", "test.carbon");
+  ASSERT_TRUE(
+      driver_.RunCommand({"compile", "--no-prelude-import", "test.carbon"})
+          .success)
+      << test_error_stream_.TakeStr();
+
+  // Rename it to a flag-like name.
+  Filesystem::Cwd().Rename("test.o", Filesystem::Cwd(), "--test.o").Check();
+
+  // Link this into a binary and pass flags to the Clang link invocation even
+  // though we use `--` before the object file input list to handle weirdly
+  // named objects.
+  //
+  // TODO: This works correctly in the Carbon link subcommand, but Clang itself
+  // fails to pass object files to LLD in a way that supports flag-shaped object
+  // file names. The last flag being `-Wl,--` tries to work around this by
+  // passing a `--` to the linker before the object files. However, LLD in turn
+  // appears to have bugs parsing command lines in this shape. We should get
+  // these fixed and then can remove the `-Wl,--` hack and the test should
+  // actually pass.
+  std::string out;
+  std::string err;
+  EXPECT_FALSE(CallWithCapturedOutput(out, err, [&] {
+                 return driver_.RunCommand({"--no-build-runtimes", "link",
+                                            "--output=test", "--", "--test.o",
+                                            "--", "-lc", "-lm", "-Wl,--"});
+               }).success);
+  EXPECT_THAT(test_error_stream_.TakeStr(), StrEq(""));
+  EXPECT_THAT(out, StrEq(""));
+  // This error seems to stem from incorrectly handling `--` in the LLD command
+  // line. See above; this should go away when the underlying bugs are fixed.
+  EXPECT_THAT(err,
+              HasSubstr("error: completed parsing all 1 configured positional "
+                        "arguments, but found a subsequent `--`"));
+}
+
 TEST_F(DriverTest, ConfigJson) {
   EXPECT_TRUE(driver_.RunCommand({"config", "--json"}).success);
   EXPECT_THAT(test_error_stream_.TakeStr(), StrEq(""));
diff --git a/toolchain/driver/link_subcommand.cpp b/toolchain/driver/link_subcommand.cpp
index 715e30013dfe..1ebdca573f99 100644
--- a/toolchain/driver/link_subcommand.cpp
+++ b/toolchain/driver/link_subcommand.cpp
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ auto LinkOptions::Build(CommandLine::CommandBuilder& b) -> void {
           .name = "OBJECT_FILE",
           .help = R"""(
 The input object files.
+
+If empty, there must be extra Clang link arguments that provide object files
+intermingled with linking flags.
 )""",
       },
-      [&](auto& arg_b) {
-        arg_b.Required(true);
-        arg_b.Append(&object_filenames);
-      });
+      [&](auto& arg_b) { arg_b.Append(&object_filenames); });
 
   b.AddStringOption(
       {
@@ -28,12 +28,28 @@ The input object files.
           .value_name = "FILE",
           .help = R"""(
 The linked file name. The output is always a linked binary.
+
+If not provided, there must be extra Clang link arguments that include
+specifying the output of the link. This allows supporting build systems that
+intermingle the output flag with arbitrary other linker flags that need to use
+legacy parsing logic.
 )""",
       },
-      [&](auto& arg_b) {
-        arg_b.Required(true);
-        arg_b.Set(&output_filename);
-      });
+      [&](auto& arg_b) { arg_b.Set(&output_filename); });
+
+  b.AddStringPositionalArg(
+      {
+          .name = "EXTRA_CLANG_LINK_ARGS",
+          .help = R"""(
+Extra arguments to pass to Clang when forming the link command. This is
+primarily useful for expanding `LDFLAGS` or other baseline linking flags in a
+build system.
+
+These can also be used to pass object files to the link in the event your build
+system mixes object files and linker flags.
+)""",
+      },
+      [&](auto& arg_b) { arg_b.Append(&extra_clang_args); });
 
   codegen_options.Build(b);
 }
@@ -69,8 +85,33 @@ auto LinkSubcommand::Run(DriverEnv& driver_env) -> DriverResult {
       llvm::formatv("--target={0}", options_.codegen_options.target).str();
   clang_args.push_back(target_arg);
 
-  clang_args.push_back("-o");
-  clang_args.push_back(options_.output_filename);
+  if (!options_.output_filename.empty()) {
+    clang_args.push_back("-o");
+    clang_args.push_back(options_.output_filename);
+  } else if (options_.extra_clang_args.empty()) {
+    CARBON_DIAGNOSTIC(LinkOutputOptionMissing, Error,
+                      "no output specified to a link command and no extra "
+                      "Clang options that can provide an output");
+    driver_env.emitter.Emit(LinkOutputOptionMissing);
+    return {.success = false};
+  }
+
+  if (options_.object_filenames.empty() && options_.extra_clang_args.empty()) {
+    CARBON_DIAGNOSTIC(LinkObjectFilesMissing, Error,
+                      "no object files provided to link command and no extra "
+                      "Clang options that could provide them");
+    driver_env.emitter.Emit(LinkObjectFilesMissing);
+    return {.success = false};
+  }
+
+  // Note that we append any extra Clang args before our object filenames. This
+  // allows us to propagate object filenames that collide with Clang flags using
+  // `--` before the filenames. While in theory, this could create a problem in
+  // the presence of mixtures of object files in the two lists and the order
+  // being dependent, we don't expect that in practice.
+  clang_args.append(options_.extra_clang_args.begin(),
+                    options_.extra_clang_args.end());
+  clang_args.push_back("--");
   clang_args.append(options_.object_filenames.begin(),
                     options_.object_filenames.end());
 
diff --git a/toolchain/driver/link_subcommand.h b/toolchain/driver/link_subcommand.h
index 5eb127629b07..dcb0765e0d25 100644
--- a/toolchain/driver/link_subcommand.h
+++ b/toolchain/driver/link_subcommand.h
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ struct LinkOptions {
   CodegenOptions codegen_options;
   llvm::StringRef output_filename;
   llvm::SmallVector<llvm::StringRef> object_filenames;
+
+  llvm::SmallVector<llvm::StringRef> extra_clang_args;
 };
 
 // Implements the link subcommand of the driver.
diff --git a/toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_object_files_missing.carbon b/toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_object_files_missing.carbon
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..24670fbd51a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_object_files_missing.carbon
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+// Part of the Carbon Language project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM
+// Exceptions. See /LICENSE for license information.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
+//
+// ARGS: --include-diagnostic-kind link --output=foo
+//
+// AUTOUPDATE
+// TIP: To test this file alone, run:
+// TIP:   bazel test //toolchain/testing:file_test --test_arg=--file_tests=toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_object_files_missing.carbon
+// TIP: To dump output, run:
+// TIP:   bazel run //toolchain/testing:file_test -- --dump_output --file_tests=toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_object_files_missing.carbon
+// CHECK:STDERR: error: no object files provided to link command and no extra Clang options that could provide them [LinkObjectFilesMissing]
+// CHECK:STDERR:
+
+// --- foo.carbon
diff --git a/toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_output_missing.carbon b/toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_output_missing.carbon
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..293931f80d61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_output_missing.carbon
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+// Part of the Carbon Language project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM
+// Exceptions. See /LICENSE for license information.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
+//
+// ARGS: --include-diagnostic-kind link foo.o bar.o
+//
+// AUTOUPDATE
+// TIP: To test this file alone, run:
+// TIP:   bazel test //toolchain/testing:file_test --test_arg=--file_tests=toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_output_missing.carbon
+// TIP: To dump output, run:
+// TIP:   bazel run //toolchain/testing:file_test -- --dump_output --file_tests=toolchain/driver/testdata/link/fail_output_missing.carbon
+// CHECK:STDERR: error: no output specified to a link command and no extra Clang options that can provide an output [LinkOutputOptionMissing]
+// CHECK:STDERR:
+
+// --- foo.carbon