diff --git a/build_detect_platform b/build_detect_platform
index 2264ee9cb..4b5de4a2a 100755
--- a/build_detect_platform
+++ b/build_detect_platform
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ case "$TARGET_OS" in
         ;;
     Linux)
         PLATFORM=OS_LINUX
-        COMMON_FLAGS="-fno-builtin-memcmp -pthread -DOS_LINUX"
+        COMMON_FLAGS="-fno-builtin-memcmp -pthread -DOS_LINUX -fPIC"
         PLATFORM_LDFLAGS="-pthread"
         PORT_FILE=port/port_posix.cc
         ;;
diff --git a/fbcode.sh b/fbcode.sh
index e9e1835bf..1f1a2f0eb 100644
--- a/fbcode.sh
+++ b/fbcode.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ CXX="$TOOLCHAIN_EXECUTABLES/gcc/gcc-4.6.2-glibc-2.13/bin/g++ $JINCLUDE $SNAPPY_I
 AR=$TOOLCHAIN_EXECUTABLES/binutils/binutils-2.21.1/da39a3e/bin/ar
 RANLIB=$TOOLCHAIN_EXECUTABLES/binutils/binutils-2.21.1/da39a3e/bin/ranlib
 
-CFLAGS="-B$TOOLCHAIN_EXECUTABLES/binutils/binutils-2.21.1/bin/gold -m64 -mtune=generic"
+CFLAGS="-B$TOOLCHAIN_EXECUTABLES/binutils/binutils-2.21.1/bin/gold -m64 -mtune=generic -fPIC"
 CFLAGS+=" -I $TOOLCHAIN_LIB_BASE/jemalloc/jemalloc-2.2.5/96de4f9/include -DHAVE_JEMALLOC"
 
 EXEC_LDFLAGS=" -Wl,--whole-archive $TOOLCHAIN_LIB_BASE/jemalloc/jemalloc-2.2.4/96de4f9/lib/libjemalloc.a "
diff --git a/include/leveldb/slice.h b/include/leveldb/slice.h
index 74ea8fa49..faa30f395 100644
--- a/include/leveldb/slice.h
+++ b/include/leveldb/slice.h
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class Slice {
             (memcmp(data_, x.data_, x.size_) == 0));
   }
 
- private:
+ // private: make these public for leveldbjni access
   const char* data_;
   size_t size_;