diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 89e10dd5..271f44f9 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -236,7 +236,6 @@ if(WITH_LIBDWARFS)
 
   set(DWARFS_HAVE_CPPTRACE ${cpptrace_FOUND})
   set(DWARFS_HAVE_LIBZSTD ON)
-  set(DWARFS_USE_JEMALLOC ${USE_JEMALLOC})
   set(DWARFS_HAVE_RICEPP ${ENABLE_RICEPP})
   set(DWARFS_HAVE_LIBMAGIC ${LIBMAGIC_FOUND})
   set(DWARFS_HAVE_LIBLZ4 ${LIBLZ4_FOUND})
@@ -259,7 +258,6 @@ else()
   add_library(dwarfs_writer ALIAS dwarfs::dwarfs_writer)
   add_library(dwarfs_rewrite ALIAS dwarfs::dwarfs_rewrite)
   add_library(dwarfs_extractor ALIAS dwarfs::dwarfs_extractor)
-  set(USE_JEMALLOC ${DWARFS_WITH_JEMALLOC})
 endif()
 
 include(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/libdwarfs_tool.cmake)
@@ -626,11 +624,6 @@ foreach(tgt ${LIBDWARFS_TARGETS} ${LIBDWARFS_OBJECT_TARGETS} dwarfs_test_helpers
 
   target_link_libraries(${tgt} PUBLIC Boost::boost)
 
-  # TODO: need to get USE_JEMALLOC and others from imported libdwarfs
-  if(USE_JEMALLOC)
-    target_link_libraries(${tgt} PRIVATE PkgConfig::JEMALLOC)
-  endif(USE_JEMALLOC)
-
   if(WITH_LIBDWARFS)
     target_include_directories(${tgt} PUBLIC
       $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include>
diff --git a/cmake/config.h.in b/cmake/config.h.in
index c6889c22..56b69074 100644
--- a/cmake/config.h.in
+++ b/cmake/config.h.in
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 #cmakedefine DWARFS_HAVE_FLAC 1
 #cmakedefine DWARFS_HAVE_RICEPP 1
 #cmakedefine DWARFS_HAVE_LIBZSTD 1
-#cmakedefine DWARFS_USE_JEMALLOC 1
 #cmakedefine DWARFS_BUILTIN_MANPAGE 1
 #cmakedefine DWARFS_PERFMON_ENABLED 1
 #cmakedefine DWARFS_STACKTRACE_ENABLED 1
diff --git a/cmake/libdwarfs_tool.cmake b/cmake/libdwarfs_tool.cmake
index d0c0d482..cf6a2755 100644
--- a/cmake/libdwarfs_tool.cmake
+++ b/cmake/libdwarfs_tool.cmake
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ endif()
 target_link_libraries(dwarfs_tool PUBLIC dwarfs_common)
 target_include_directories(dwarfs_tool PUBLIC tools/include)
 
+if(USE_JEMALLOC AND JEMALLOC_FOUND)
+  target_link_libraries(dwarfs_tool PRIVATE PkgConfig::JEMALLOC)
+  target_compile_definitions(dwarfs_tool PRIVATE DWARFS_USE_JEMALLOC)
+endif()
+
 target_compile_definitions(
   dwarfs_tool PRIVATE DWARFS_BUILD_ID="${CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR}, ${CMAKE_SYSTEM}, ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID} ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION}"
 )
diff --git a/src/library_dependencies.cpp b/src/library_dependencies.cpp
index 579844d0..30aa3ddb 100644
--- a/src/library_dependencies.cpp
+++ b/src/library_dependencies.cpp
@@ -31,10 +31,6 @@
 
 #include <dwarfs/config.h>
 
-#ifdef DWARFS_USE_JEMALLOC
-#include <jemalloc/jemalloc.h>
-#endif
-
 #include <dwarfs/block_compressor.h>
 #include <dwarfs/library_dependencies.h>
 
@@ -55,25 +51,6 @@ std::string version_to_string(uint64_t version, version_format fmt) {
   throw std::invalid_argument("unsupported version format");
 }
 
-#ifdef DWARFS_USE_JEMALLOC
-std::string get_jemalloc_version() {
-#ifdef __APPLE__
-  char const* j = JEMALLOC_VERSION;
-#else
-  char const* j = nullptr;
-  size_t s = sizeof(j);
-  // NOLINTNEXTLINE(bugprone-multi-level-implicit-pointer-conversion)
-  ::mallctl("version", &j, &s, nullptr, 0);
-  assert(j);
-#endif
-  std::string rv{j};
-  if (auto pos = rv.find('-'); pos != std::string::npos) {
-    rv.erase(pos, std::string::npos);
-  }
-  return rv;
-}
-#endif
-
 } // namespace
 
 std::string library_dependencies::common_as_string() {
@@ -114,11 +91,6 @@ void library_dependencies::add_common_libraries() {
   add_library("libcrypto", OPENSSL_version_major(), OPENSSL_version_minor(),
               OPENSSL_version_patch());
   add_library("libboost", BOOST_VERSION, version_format::boost);
-
-#ifdef DWARFS_USE_JEMALLOC
-  add_library("libjemalloc", get_jemalloc_version());
-#endif
-
   add_library("phmap", PHMAP_VERSION_MAJOR, PHMAP_VERSION_MINOR,
               PHMAP_VERSION_PATCH);
 
diff --git a/tools/src/tool/tool.cpp b/tools/src/tool/tool.cpp
index 6bb79e7d..dbca1a51 100644
--- a/tools/src/tool/tool.cpp
+++ b/tools/src/tool/tool.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@
 #include <dwarfs/tool/render_manpage.h>
 #endif
 
+#ifdef DWARFS_USE_JEMALLOC
+#include <jemalloc/jemalloc.h>
+#endif
+
 namespace po = boost::program_options;
 
 namespace boost {
@@ -50,6 +54,29 @@ void validate(boost::any& v, std::vector<std::string> const&,
 
 namespace dwarfs::tool {
 
+namespace {
+
+#ifdef DWARFS_USE_JEMALLOC
+std::string get_jemalloc_version() {
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+  char const* j = JEMALLOC_VERSION;
+#else
+  char const* j = nullptr;
+  size_t s = sizeof(j);
+  // NOLINTNEXTLINE(bugprone-multi-level-implicit-pointer-conversion)
+  ::mallctl("version", &j, &s, nullptr, 0);
+  assert(j);
+#endif
+  std::string rv{j};
+  if (auto pos = rv.find('-'); pos != std::string::npos) {
+    rv.erase(pos, std::string::npos);
+  }
+  return rv;
+}
+#endif
+
+} // namespace
+
 std::string tool_header(std::string_view tool_name, std::string_view extra_info,
                         extra_deps_fn const& extra_deps) {
   std::string date;
@@ -61,6 +88,10 @@ std::string tool_header(std::string_view tool_name, std::string_view extra_info,
   library_dependencies deps;
   deps.add_common_libraries();
 
+#ifdef DWARFS_USE_JEMALLOC
+  deps.add_library("libjemalloc", get_jemalloc_version());
+#endif
+
   if (extra_deps) {
     extra_deps(deps);
   }