diff --git a/Source/cmLinkDirectoriesCommand.cxx b/Source/cmLinkDirectoriesCommand.cxx
index f486bf7d1..b6c0072db 100644
--- a/Source/cmLinkDirectoriesCommand.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmLinkDirectoriesCommand.cxx
@@ -65,5 +65,5 @@ void cmLinkDirectoriesCommand::AddLinkDir(std::string const& dir)
       unixPath = tmp;
       }
     }
-  this->Makefile->AddLinkDirectory(unixPath);
+  this->Makefile->AppendProperty("LINK_DIRECTORIES", unixPath.c_str());
 }
diff --git a/Source/cmMakefile.cxx b/Source/cmMakefile.cxx
index 1dc0bb723..3c8a41d29 100644
--- a/Source/cmMakefile.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmMakefile.cxx
@@ -1520,31 +1520,6 @@ void cmMakefile::AddLinkLibrary(const std::string& lib)
   this->AddLinkLibrary(lib,cmTarget::GENERAL);
 }
 
-void cmMakefile::AddLinkDirectory(const std::string& dir)
-{
-  // Don't add a link directory that is already present.  Yes, this
-  // linear search results in n^2 behavior, but n won't be getting
-  // much bigger than 20.  We cannot use a set because of order
-  // dependency of the link search path.
-
-  if(dir.empty())
-    {
-    return;
-    }
-  std::string newdir = dir;
-  // remove trailing slashes
-  if(*dir.rbegin() == '/')
-    {
-    newdir = dir.substr(0, dir.size()-1);
-    }
-  if(std::find(this->LinkDirectories.begin(),
-               this->LinkDirectories.end(), newdir)
-      == this->LinkDirectories.end())
-    {
-    this->LinkDirectories.push_back(dir);
-    }
-}
-
 void cmMakefile::InitializeFromParent(cmMakefile* parent)
 {
   // Initialize definitions with the closure of the parent scope.
@@ -1607,7 +1582,8 @@ void cmMakefile::InitializeFromParent(cmMakefile* parent)
   this->LinkLibraries = parent->LinkLibraries;
 
   // link directories
-  this->LinkDirectories = parent->LinkDirectories;
+  this->SetProperty("LINK_DIRECTORIES",
+                    parent->GetProperty("LINK_DIRECTORIES"));
 
   // the initial project name
   this->ProjectName = parent->ProjectName;
@@ -2145,11 +2121,26 @@ void cmMakefile::AddGlobalLinkInformation(const std::string& name,
       return;
     default:;
     }
-  std::vector<std::string>::iterator j;
-  for(j = this->LinkDirectories.begin();
-      j != this->LinkDirectories.end(); ++j)
+  if (const char* linkDirsProp = this->GetProperty("LINK_DIRECTORIES"))
     {
-    target.AddLinkDirectory(*j);
+    std::vector<std::string> linkDirs;
+    cmSystemTools::ExpandListArgument(linkDirsProp, linkDirs);
+
+    for(std::vector<std::string>::iterator j = linkDirs.begin();
+        j != linkDirs.end(); ++j)
+      {
+      std::string newdir = *j;
+      // remove trailing slashes
+      if(*j->rbegin() == '/')
+        {
+        newdir = j->substr(0, j->size()-1);
+        }
+      if(std::find(this->LinkDirectories.begin(),
+                   this->LinkDirectories.end(), newdir)
+          == this->LinkDirectories.end())
+        {target.AddLinkDirectory(*j);
+        }
+      }
     }
   target.MergeLinkLibraries( *this, name, this->LinkLibraries );
 }
@@ -2424,19 +2415,19 @@ void cmMakefile::ExpandVariablesCMP0019()
       }
     }
 
-  for(std::vector<std::string>::iterator d = this->LinkDirectories.begin();
-      d != this->LinkDirectories.end(); ++d)
+  if (const char* linkDirsProp = this->GetProperty("LINK_DIRECTORIES"))
     {
-    if(mightExpandVariablesCMP0019(d->c_str()))
+    if(mightExpandVariablesCMP0019(linkDirsProp))
       {
-      std::string orig = *d;
-      this->ExpandVariablesInString(*d, true, true);
-      if(pol == cmPolicies::WARN && *d != orig)
+      std::string d = linkDirsProp;
+      std::string orig = linkDirsProp;
+      this->ExpandVariablesInString(d, true, true);
+      if(pol == cmPolicies::WARN && d != orig)
         {
-        w << "Evaluated link directory\n"
+        w << "Evaluated link directories\n"
           << "  " << orig << "\n"
           << "as\n"
-          << "  " << *d << "\n";
+          << "  " << d << "\n";
         }
       }
     }
@@ -4147,16 +4138,6 @@ int cmMakefile::ConfigureFile(const char* infile, const char* outfile,
 
 void cmMakefile::SetProperty(const std::string& prop, const char* value)
 {
-  if ( prop == "LINK_DIRECTORIES" )
-    {
-    std::vector<std::string> varArgsExpanded;
-    if(value)
-      {
-      cmSystemTools::ExpandListArgument(value, varArgsExpanded);
-      }
-    this->SetLinkDirectories(varArgsExpanded);
-    return;
-    }
   if (prop == "INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES")
     {
     this->IncludeDirectoriesEntries.clear();
@@ -4237,17 +4218,6 @@ void cmMakefile::AppendProperty(const std::string& prop,
                                         cmValueWithOrigin(value, lfbt));
     return;
     }
-  if ( prop == "LINK_DIRECTORIES" )
-    {
-    std::vector<std::string> varArgsExpanded;
-    cmSystemTools::ExpandListArgument(value, varArgsExpanded);
-    for(std::vector<std::string>::const_iterator vi = varArgsExpanded.begin();
-        vi != varArgsExpanded.end(); ++vi)
-      {
-      this->AddLinkDirectory(*vi);
-      }
-    return;
-    }
 
   this->Properties.AppendProperty(prop, value, asString);
 }
@@ -4300,11 +4270,6 @@ const char *cmMakefile::GetProperty(const std::string& prop,
     this->GetListOfMacros(output);
     return output.c_str();
     }
-  else if (prop == "LINK_DIRECTORIES")
-    {
-    output = cmJoin(this->LinkDirectories, ";");
-    return output.c_str();
-    }
   else if (prop == "INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES")
     {
     std::string sep;
diff --git a/Source/cmMakefile.h b/Source/cmMakefile.h
index 154e09938..98d199a2e 100644
--- a/Source/cmMakefile.h
+++ b/Source/cmMakefile.h
@@ -228,16 +228,6 @@ public:
                                cmTarget::LinkLibraryType type);
   void AddLinkDirectoryForTarget(const std::string& tgt, const std::string& d);
 
-  /**
-   * Add a link directory to the build.
-   */
-  void AddLinkDirectory(const std::string&);
-
-  void SetLinkDirectories(const std::vector<std::string>& vec)
-    {
-      this->LinkDirectories = vec;
-    }
-
   /**
    * Add a subdirectory to the build.
    */
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CMP0019/CMP0019-WARN-stderr.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/CMP0019/CMP0019-WARN-stderr.txt
index 03faef90e..1e4b47d0c 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/CMP0019/CMP0019-WARN-stderr.txt
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CMP0019/CMP0019-WARN-stderr.txt
@@ -21,13 +21,13 @@ CMake Warning \(dev\) in CMakeLists.txt:
 
     /usr/include/VAL_INCLUDE;/usr/include/normal
 
-  Evaluated link directory
+  Evaluated link directories
 
-    /usr/lib/\${VAR_LINK_DIRS}
+    /usr/lib/\${VAR_LINK_DIRS};/usr/lib/normal
 
   as
 
-    /usr/lib/VAL_LINK_DIRS
+    /usr/lib/VAL_LINK_DIRS;/usr/lib/normal
 
   Evaluated link library