Apache + mod_ssl build not linking to my OpenSSL build

I have spent some time searching online but none of what I found seems to help. I'm running CentOS 6 64bit and would like to compile Apache with mod_ssl and need to link it to my own OpenSSL build (which is newer than the OS provided version). OpenSSL 1.1.0i is configured with: ./config --prefix=/opt/openssl-1.1.0 --openssldir=/opt/openssl-1.1.0 shared Apache 2.4 is configured with: ./configure --enable-layout=mycustomlayout \ --prefix=/opt/httpd-2.4.34 \ --exec-prefix=/opt/httpd-2.4.34 \ --with-mpm=prefork \ --enable-so \ --enable-ssl \ --with-ssl=/opt/openssl-1.1.0 \ --enable-cgi \ --enable-http2 \ --enable-proxy-http2 \ --with-included-apr It appears to compile just fine but mod_ssl isn't aware of where OpenSSL 1.1.0 is installed: [root@host .libs]# ldd ./mod_ssl.so | grep -iP 'ssl|crypto' libssl.so.1.1 => not found libcrypto.so.1.1 => not found And so only works when you explicitly tell it where to look: [root@host .libs]# export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH [root@host .libs]# ldd ./mod_ssl.so | grep -iP 'ssl|crypto' libssl.so.1.1 => /opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib/libssl.so.1.1 (0x00007f069149a000) libcrypto.so.1.1 => /opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib/libcrypto.so.1.1 (0x00007f069100a000) Even building mod_ssl statically into httpd binary with --enable-mods-static=ssl doesn't help. I tried --enable-ssl, --enable-ssl --enable-ssl-staticlib-deps, and --enable-ssl --enable-ssl-staticlib-deps --enable-mods-static=ssl and still the same result: libssl.so.1.1 => not found libcrypto.so.1.1 => not found Also tried, without luck, setting these variables before ./configure: export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH \ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH \ LDFLAGS="-L/opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib" I know I can just add to /etc/ld.so.conf.d to autoload the new OpenSSL library or adjust Apache's init script to add to LD_LIBRARY_PATH but I'd much prefer to have it working properly, have the program where to look for libssl.so / libcrypto.so, just like my PHP build: [root@host php]# export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH \ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH \ LDFLAGS="-L/opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib" \ PHP_PREFIX=/opt/php-7.2.9 \ EXTENSION_DIR=$PHP_PREFIX/usr/lib64/php/modules [root@host php]# ./configure […] \ --with-imap=shared \ --with-imap-ssl \ --with-openssl=shared \ --with-openssl-dir=/opt/openssl-1.1.0/bin [root@host php]# make [root@host php]# unset PKG_CONFIG_PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH LDFLAGS [root@host modules]# ldd ./openssl.so | grep -iP 'ssl|crypto' libssl.so.1.1 => /opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib/libssl.so.1.1 (0x00007fc2220a6000) libcrypto.so.1.1 => /opt/openssl-1.1.0/lib/libcrypto.so.1.1 (0x00007fc221c17000) What am I doing wrong? Could this be a bug?