diff --git a/cmake/Modules/MacroLinkQtComponents.cmake b/cmake/Modules/MacroLinkQtComponents.cmake
index a6c80ce1e..c8a1c941f 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/MacroLinkQtComponents.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/MacroLinkQtComponents.cmake
@@ -5,11 +5,23 @@
 macro (target_link_qt_components target)
 if (QT4_FOUND)
     foreach(_cmp ${ARGN})
-        list(APPEND _QT_CMPNTS "Qt4::Qt${_cmp}")
+        if ("${_cmp}" STREQUAL "PRIVATE" OR
+            "${_cmp}" STREQUAL "PUBLIC" OR
+            "${_cmp}" STREQUAL "INTERFACE")
+             list(APPEND _QT_CMPNTS "${_cmp}")
+        else()
+            list(APPEND _QT_CMPNTS "Qt4::Qt${_cmp}")
+        endif()
     endforeach()
 else (QT4_FOUND)
     foreach(_cmp ${ARGN})
-        list(APPEND _QT_CMPNTS "Qt5::${_cmp}")
+        if ("${_cmp}" STREQUAL "PRIVATE" OR
+            "${_cmp}" STREQUAL "PUBLIC" OR
+            "${_cmp}" STREQUAL "INTERFACE")
+             list(APPEND _QT_CMPNTS "${_cmp}")
+        else()
+            list(APPEND _QT_CMPNTS "Qt5::${_cmp}")
+        endif()
     endforeach()
 endif (QT4_FOUND)
     target_link_libraries(${target} ${_QT_CMPNTS})
diff --git a/src/base/CMakeLists.txt b/src/base/CMakeLists.txt
index 7efcf4d2f..fa4ba824e 100644
--- a/src/base/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/base/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -117,24 +117,24 @@ tristatebool.cpp
 )
 
 add_library(qbt_base STATIC ${QBT_BASE_HEADERS} ${QBT_BASE_SOURCES})
-target_link_libraries(qbt_base ZLIB::ZLIB LibtorrentRasterbar::LibTorrent)
-target_link_qt_components(qbt_base Core Network Xml)
+target_link_libraries(qbt_base PRIVATE ZLIB::ZLIB PUBLIC LibtorrentRasterbar::LibTorrent)
+target_link_qt_components(qbt_base PUBLIC Core Network Xml)
 if (QT4_FOUND)
     if (GUI)
-        target_link_libraries(qbt_base Qt4::QtGui)
+        target_link_libraries(qbt_base PUBLIC Qt4::QtGui)
     endif (GUI)
 else (QT4_FOUND)
     if (GUI)
-        target_link_libraries(qbt_base Qt5::Gui Qt5::Widgets)
+        target_link_libraries(qbt_base PUBLIC Qt5::Gui Qt5::Widgets)
     endif (GUI)
 endif (QT4_FOUND)
 
 if (DBUS)
-    target_link_qt_components(qbt_base DBus)
+    target_link_qt_components(qbt_base PRIVATE DBus)
 endif ()
 
 if (APPLE)
     find_library(IOKit_LIBRARY IOKit)
     find_library(Carbon_LIBRARY Carbon)
-    target_link_libraries(qbt_base ${Carbon_LIBRARY} ${IOKit_LIBRARY})
+    target_link_libraries(qbt_base PRIVATE ${Carbon_LIBRARY} ${IOKit_LIBRARY})
 endif (APPLE)