diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/debug/Compiler.java b/app/src/processing/app/debug/Compiler.java
index 29953666dd5..d01f57c3a85 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/debug/Compiler.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/debug/Compiler.java
@@ -196,7 +196,8 @@ public boolean compile(Sketch sketch,
     List baseCommandLinker = new ArrayList(Arrays.asList(new String[] {
       avrBasePath + "avr-gcc",
       "-Os",
-      "-Wl,--gc-sections"+optRelax,
+      (Preferences.get("build.linker_options")!= null ? Preferences.get("build.linker_options")+optRelax :
+      "-Wl,--gc-sections"+optRelax),
       "-mmcu=" + boardPreferences.get("build.mcu"),
       "-o",
       buildPath + File.separator + primaryClassName + ".elf"
@@ -208,8 +209,14 @@ public boolean compile(Sketch sketch,
 
     baseCommandLinker.add(runtimeLibraryName);
     baseCommandLinker.add("-L" + buildPath);
-    baseCommandLinker.add("-lm");
-
+    if (Preferences.get("build.linker_additional_options") != null) {
+        for (String addopt : Preferences.get("build.linker_additional_options").split(" ")) {
+        	baseCommandLinker.add(addopt);
+        }
+    } else {
+      baseCommandLinker.add("-lm");
+    }
+    
     execAsynchronously(baseCommandLinker);
 
     List baseCommandObjcopy = new ArrayList(Arrays.asList(new String[] {
diff --git a/build/shared/examples/8.Strings/lprintfscanf_test/lprintfscanf_test.ino b/build/shared/examples/8.Strings/lprintfscanf_test/lprintfscanf_test.ino
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..25638cd01ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/shared/examples/8.Strings/lprintfscanf_test/lprintfscanf_test.ino
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+/*
+  lprintfscanf_test sketch
+  by George Schreiber
+  2012.03.26.
+
+  this sketch does nothing but verifies if the binary has been linked with the float-capable versions
+  of printf and scanf.
+
+  to link these libraries, a patched version of Arduino IDE (or other options to tweak with the AVR linker options)
+  is necessary. 
+  
+  to go with a patched version of Arduino(TM)-1.0, download and build sources from http://github.com/srejbi/Arduino.git 
+  
+  then add to the user's Arduino preferences.txt:
+    build.linker_options=-Wl,-u,vfprintf,-u,vfscanf,--gc-sections
+    build.linker_additional_options=-lprintf_flt -lscanf_flt -lm
+
+  re-compile, upload and enjoy!
+*/
+
+
+boolean testprintf();    // test function for printf
+boolean testscanf();     // test function for scanf
+void printscan();        // a dummy function that relies on the float-enabled versions of printf/scanf
+
+void setup(void) {
+  Serial.begin(57600);
+  Serial.println("printf/scanf linking tester");
+  if (testprintf() && testscanf()) printscan();
+}
+
+void loop(void) {
+    // we're done already.
+}
+
+// checks printf float behaviour with known value
+boolean testprintf()  {
+  float ftest = 0;
+ 
+  char sztest[10] ="";
+  sprintf(sztest,"%.4f", 2012.0326);        // print 2012.0326 to string
+  Serial.print(sztest);
+  Serial.print(" - version of printf linked: ");  
+  if (sztest[0] == '?') {                                // minimal version
+    Serial.println("minimal");
+  } else if (strstr(sztest,"2012.0326")==sztest) {       // if float conversion was ok
+    Serial.println("float-capable");
+    return true;
+  } else {                                               // something unexpected happened...
+    Serial.println("wtf?");
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+// checks sscanf float behaviour with known value
+boolean testscanf()  {
+  float ftest = 0;
+  
+  sscanf("2012.0326","%f", &ftest);          // scan 2012.0326 from string
+  Serial.print(ftest,4);
+  Serial.print(" - version of scanf linked:");  
+  if (ftest == 0) {                          // if no value, we have minimal version
+    Serial.println("minimal");
+  } else if (ftest == 2012.0326 ) {          // if the value matches, we're good
+    Serial.println("float-capable");
+    return true;
+  } else {                                   // expecting the unexpected
+    Serial.println("wtf?");
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+// happy to print what it scans :)
+void printscan() {
+  char szbuf[10];
+  float tfloat = 0;
+  sscanf("2012.0326","%f",&tfloat);
+  sprintf(szbuf,"%.4f",tfloat);
+  Serial.print("Oh happy day:");
+  Serial.println(szbuf);
+}
+