diff --git a/src/build_settings.cpp b/src/build_settings.cpp
index fdaa971f1..fa57e3809 100644
--- a/src/build_settings.cpp
+++ b/src/build_settings.cpp
@@ -1190,13 +1190,24 @@ gb_internal String path_to_fullpath(gbAllocator a, String s, bool *ok_) {
 	char *p;
 	mutex_lock(&fullpath_mutex);
 	p = realpath(cast(char *)s.text, 0);
+	defer (free(p));
 	mutex_unlock(&fullpath_mutex);
 	if(p == nullptr) {
 		if (ok_) *ok_ = false;
-		return String{};
+
+		// Path doesn't exist or is malformed, Windows's `GetFullPathNameW` does not check for
+		// existence of the file where `realpath` does, which causes different behaviour between platforms.
+		// Two things could be done here:
+		// 1. clean the path and resolve it manually, just like the Windows function does,
+		//    probably requires porting `filepath.clean` from Odin and doing some more processing.
+		// 2. just return a copy of the original path.
+		//
+		// I have opted for 2 because it is much simpler + we already return `ok = false` + further
+		// checks and processes will use the path and cause errors (which we want).
+		return copy_string(a, s);
 	}
 	if (ok_) *ok_ = true;
-	return make_string_c(p);
+	return copy_string(a, make_string_c(p));
 }
 #else
 #error Implement system
@@ -1939,6 +1950,18 @@ gb_internal bool init_build_paths(String init_filename) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if (build_context.no_crt && !build_context.ODIN_DEFAULT_TO_NIL_ALLOCATOR && !build_context.ODIN_DEFAULT_TO_PANIC_ALLOCATOR) {
+		switch (build_context.metrics.os) {
+		case TargetOs_linux:
+		case TargetOs_darwin:
+		case TargetOs_essence:
+		case TargetOs_freebsd:
+		case TargetOs_openbsd:
+		case TargetOs_haiku:
+			gb_printf_err("-no-crt on unix systems requires either -default-to-nil-allocator or -default-to-panic-allocator to also be present because the default allocator requires crt\n");
+			return false;
+		}
+	}
 
 	if (bc->target_features_string.len != 0) {
 		enable_target_feature({}, bc->target_features_string);
diff --git a/src/linker.cpp b/src/linker.cpp
index 0cdeaf8d9..9d7f16f1d 100644
--- a/src/linker.cpp
+++ b/src/linker.cpp
@@ -376,6 +376,10 @@ gb_internal i32 linker_stage(LinkerData *gen) {
 								LIT(obj_file),
 								LIT(build_context.extra_assembler_flags)
 							);						
+							if (!result) {
+								gb_printf_err("executing `nasm` to assemble foreing import of %.*s failed.\n\tSuggestion: `nasm` does not ship with the compiler and should be installed with your system's package manager.\n", LIT(asm_file));
+								return result;
+							}
 						}
 						array_add(&gen->output_object_paths, obj_file);
 					} else {
@@ -383,9 +387,13 @@ gb_internal i32 linker_stage(LinkerData *gen) {
 							continue;
 						}
 
-						// NOTE(zangent): Sometimes, you have to use -framework on MacOS.
-						//   This allows you to specify '-f' in a #foreign_system_library,
-						//   without having to implement any new syntax specifically for MacOS.
+						// Do not add libc again, this is added later already, and omitted with
+						// the `-no-crt` flag, not skipping here would cause duplicate library
+						// warnings when linking on darwin and might link libc silently even with `-no-crt`.
+						if (lib == str_lit("System.framework") || lib == str_lit("c")) {
+							continue;
+						}
+
 						if (build_context.metrics.os == TargetOs_darwin) {
 							if (string_ends_with(lib, str_lit(".framework"))) {
 								// framework thingie