diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 8b19cb671..93d9f8faa 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -263,8 +263,8 @@ if(MSVC)
 endif()
 
 # Those are used for pkg-config so sdl3.pc is created correctly.
-set(SDL_LIBS "-lSDL3")
-set(SDL_CFLAGS )
+set(SDL_PC_LIBS "-lSDL3")
+set(SDL_PC_CFLAGS )
 
 # When building shared lib for Windows with MinGW,
 # avoid the DLL having a "lib" prefix
@@ -291,9 +291,9 @@ if(CYGWIN)
   cmake_pop_check_state()
   if(HAVE_GCC_NO_CYGWIN)
     list(APPEND EXTRA_LDFLAGS_BUILD "-mno-cygwin")
-    list(APPEND SDL_LIBS "-mno-cygwin")
+    list(APPEND SDL_PC_LIBS "-mno-cygwin")
   endif()
-  list(APPEND SDL_CFLAGS "-I/usr/include/mingw")
+  list(APPEND SDL_PC_CFLAGS "-I/usr/include/mingw")
 endif()
 
 # General includes
@@ -1953,7 +1953,7 @@ elseif(WINDOWS)
 
   file(GLOB VERSION_SOURCES ${SDL3_SOURCE_DIR}/src/core/windows/*.rc)
   if(MINGW OR CYGWIN)
-    list(INSERT SDL_LIBS 0 "-lmingw32" "-mwindows")
+    list(INSERT SDL_PC_LIBS 0 "-lmingw32" "-mwindows")
   endif()
 
 elseif(APPLE)
@@ -2916,21 +2916,20 @@ set(SDL_STATIC_LIBS ${EXTRA_LDFLAGS} ${_EXTRA_LIBS})
 list(REMOVE_DUPLICATES SDL_STATIC_LIBS)
 listtostr(SDL_STATIC_LIBS _SDL_STATIC_LIBS)
 set(SDL_STATIC_LIBS ${_SDL_STATIC_LIBS})
-listtostr(SDL_LIBS _SDL_LIBS)
-set(SDL_LIBS ${_SDL_LIBS})
-listtostr(SDL_CFLAGS _SDL_CFLAGS "")
-set(SDL_CFLAGS ${_SDL_CFLAGS})
+listtostr(SDL_PC_LIBS SDL_PC_LIBS)
+listtostr(SDL_PC_CFLAGS SDL_PC_CFLAGS)
 string(REGEX REPLACE "-lSDL3( |$)" "-l${sdl_static_libname} " SDL_STATIC_LIBS "${SDL_STATIC_LIBS}")
 if(NOT SDL_SHARED)
-  string(REGEX REPLACE "-lSDL3( |$)" "-l${sdl_static_libname} " SDL_LIBS "${SDL_LIBS}")
+  string(REGEX REPLACE "-lSDL3( |$)" "-l${sdl_static_libname} " SDL_PC_LIBS "${SDL_PC_LIBS}")
 endif()
 
 if(SDL_STATIC AND SDL_SHARED AND NOT sdl_static_libname STREQUAL "SDL3")
   message(STATUS "\"pkg-config --static --libs sdl3\" will return invalid information")
 endif()
 
-# MESSAGE(STATUS "SDL_LIBS: ${SDL_LIBS}")
-# MESSAGE(STATUS "SDL_STATIC_LIBS: ${SDL_STATIC_LIBS}")
+# message(STATUS "SDL_PC_CFLAGS:   ${SDL_PC_CFLAGS}")
+# message(STATUS "SDL_PC_LIBS:     ${SDL_PC_LIBS}")
+# message(STATUS "SDL_STATIC_LIBS: ${SDL_STATIC_LIBS}")
 
 configure_file(cmake/sdl3.pc.in sdl3.pc @ONLY)
 
diff --git a/cmake/sdl3.pc.in b/cmake/sdl3.pc.in
index c03ef2435..419bd1715 100644
--- a/cmake/sdl3.pc.in
+++ b/cmake/sdl3.pc.in
@@ -10,5 +10,5 @@ Description: Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform multimedia library des
 Version: @SDL_VERSION@
 Requires.private: @PKGCONFIG_DEPENDS@
 Conflicts:
-Libs: -L${libdir} @SDL_RLD_FLAGS@ @SDL_LIBS@ @PKGCONFIG_LIBS_PRIV@ @SDL_STATIC_LIBS@
-Cflags: -I${includedir} -I${includedir}/SDL3 @SDL_CFLAGS@
+Libs: -L${libdir} @SDL_RLD_FLAGS@ @SDL_PC_LIBS@ @PKGCONFIG_LIBS_PRIV@ @SDL_STATIC_LIBS@
+Cflags: -I${includedir} -I${includedir}/SDL3 @SDL_PC_CFLAGS@
diff --git a/cmake/sdlchecks.cmake b/cmake/sdlchecks.cmake
index 515ad490f..8abac2d69 100644
--- a/cmake/sdlchecks.cmake
+++ b/cmake/sdlchecks.cmake
@@ -661,7 +661,7 @@ macro(CheckVivante)
         find_library(VIVANTE_VDK_LIBRARY VDK REQUIRED)
         list(APPEND EXTRA_LIBS ${VIVANTE_LIBRARY} ${VIVANTE_VDK_LIBRARY})
       else()
-        list(APPEND SDL_CFLAGS -DLINUX -DEGL_API_FB)
+        list(APPEND SDL_PC_CFLAGS -DLINUX -DEGL_API_FB)
         list(APPEND EXTRA_LIBS EGL)
       endif(HAVE_VIVANTE_VDK)
     endif()
@@ -808,7 +808,7 @@ macro(CheckPTHREAD)
       set(SDL_THREAD_PTHREAD 1)
       target_compile_options(sdl-build-options INTERFACE ${PTHREAD_CFLAGS})
       list(APPEND EXTRA_LDFLAGS ${PTHREAD_LDFLAGS})
-      list(APPEND SDL_CFLAGS ${PTHREAD_CFLAGS})
+      list(APPEND SDL_PC_CFLAGS ${PTHREAD_CFLAGS})
 
       check_c_source_compiles("
         #define _GNU_SOURCE 1