diff --git a/sys/libnh/libnhmain.c b/sys/libnh/libnhmain.c
index 90907f987..67b38e4e0 100644
--- a/sys/libnh/libnhmain.c
+++ b/sys/libnh/libnhmain.c
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ extern struct passwd *getpwnam(const char *);
 #ifdef CHDIR
 static void chdirx(const char *, boolean);
 #endif /* CHDIR */
-static boolean whoami(void);
+boolean whoami(void);
 static void process_options(int, char **);
 
 #ifdef _M_UNIX
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ chdirx(const char *dir, boolean wr)
 #endif /* CHDIR */
 
 /* returns True iff we set plname[] to username which contains a hyphen */
-static boolean
+boolean
 whoami(void)
 {
     /*
@@ -805,7 +805,7 @@ get_nhuuid(void)
                              0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 };
     char *uuid = (char *) &stmp[0];
 #ifndef NONHUUID
-#ifdef NHUUID
+#ifdef __EMSCRIPTEN__
     int uuid_available = 0;
 #endif
 #endif
@@ -814,7 +814,7 @@ get_nhuuid(void)
         return;
 
 #ifndef NONHUUID
-#ifdef NHUUID
+#ifdef __EMSCRIPTEN__
     uuid_available = emscripten_run_script_int(
 		    "typeof crypto !== 'undefined'"
 		    " && typeof crypto.randomUUID === 'function'");
@@ -824,7 +824,7 @@ get_nhuuid(void)
             uuid = (char *) &stmp[0];
         }
     }
-#endif  /* NHUUID */
+#endif  /* __EMSCRIPTEN__ */
 #endif  /* NONHUUID */
     Snprintf(svn.nhuuid, sizeof svn.nhuuid, "%s", uuid);
 }
diff --git a/sys/unix/hints/macOS.500 b/sys/unix/hints/macOS.500
index 2a400d1a3..6de98b96d 100755
--- a/sys/unix/hints/macOS.500
+++ b/sys/unix/hints/macOS.500
@@ -345,6 +345,12 @@ LIBNHSYSOBJ = $(TARGETPFX)libnhmain.o $(TARGETPFX)ioctl.o \
 #without winshim
 override GAME=
 MOREALL += ( cd src ; $(MAKE) pregame ; $(MAKE) $(TARGETPFX)libnh.a )
+# With $(GAME) empty, the regular `recover: $(GAME)` chain no longer
+# triggers lua_support, but recover.c still pulls in hack.h -> nhlua.h
+# transitively.  Make recover depend on lua_support explicitly.
+ifdef MAKEFILE_TOP
+recover: lua_support
+endif
 endif  # WANT_LIBNH
 
 # Lua
@@ -568,8 +574,20 @@ $(TARGETPFX)macuuid.o: ../sys/unix/macuuid.m
 endif
 
 ifdef WANT_LIBNH
-$(TARGETPFX)libnh.a: $(HOBJ) $(LIBNHSYSOBJ) ../lib/lua/liblua-$(LUA_VERSION).a
-	$(AR) rcs $@ $(HOBJ) $(LIBNHSYSOBJ) ../lib/lua/liblua-$(LUA_VERSION).a
+# Build libnh.a by merging the engine objects, the shim windowport,
+# date.o (separate from $(HOBJ) per Makefile.src), hacklib.a, and Lua's
+# static archive.  Use libtool -static rather than ar so hacklib.a and
+# liblua-$(LUA_VERSION).a have their members merged in -- ar would archive
+# them as opaque .a members and macOS ld can't dereference those.
+# Depending on $(LUALIB) triggers the lua_support build (which generates
+# include/nhlua.h); without it, $(HOBJ) won't compile.
+# filter-out drops $(SYSOBJ) (which carries unixmain.o) and $(WINOBJ) (the
+# tty windowport) from $(HOBJ); $(LIBNHSYSOBJ) supplies libnhmain.o and
+# winshim.o in their place.
+$(TARGETPFX)libnh.a: $(LUALIB) $(HOBJ) $(LIBNHSYSOBJ) $(DATE_O) $(TARGET_HACKLIB)
+	libtool -static -o $@ \
+		$(filter-out $(SYSOBJ) $(WINOBJ),$(HOBJ)) \
+		$(LIBNHSYSOBJ) $(DATE_O) $(TARGET_HACKLIB) $(LUALIB)
 	@echo "$@ built."
 $(TARGETPFX)libnhmain.o : ../sys/libnh/libnhmain.c $(HACK_H)
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o$@ $<