diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 8da3746..0ceaf4a 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -92,8 +92,13 @@ The following are the changes from calc version 2.14.3.1 to date:
 
     Under macOS, to reduce dependency chains, we remove functions and
     data that are unreachable by the entry point or exported symbols.
-    In particular, the linker is run with "-dead_strip" and with
-    "-dead_strip_dylibs".
+    In particular, the macOS linker is used with "-dead_strip".
+
+    While calc on macOS will execute if linker used with "-dead_strip_dylibs"
+    and CUSTOM is defined, other applications that use libcalc but not
+    libcustcalc (such as sample_many and sample_rand) will fail to execute
+    due to missile symbols.  Therefore "-dead_strip_dylibs" is not used
+    by default when ALLOW_CUSTOM is "-DCUSTOM" under macOS.
 
 
 The following are the changes from calc version 2.14.2.1 to 2.14.3.0:
diff --git a/Makefile.target b/Makefile.target
index 341df10..9990556 100644
--- a/Makefile.target
+++ b/Makefile.target
@@ -177,7 +177,22 @@ LIBCUSTCALC_SHLIB= -dynamiclib -undefined dynamic_lookup \
 # data that are unreachable by the entry point or exported symbols.
 #
 COMMON_LDFLAGS+= -Wl,-dead_strip
+
+# Do not link with "-dead_strip_dylibs" if CUSTOM is defined
+# (i.e., ${ALLOW_CUSTOM} is "-DCUSTOM).  This is because unless
+# the application makes an explicit symbol reference to some symbol
+# in libcustcalc, the application will fail to execute due to
+# a missing symbol.
+#
+# The calc application will run with CUSTOM defined under
+# "-dead_strip_dylibs" because calc.o (in main()) makes an explicit
+# reference to custtbl_allowed (see custom/custtbl.c) in libcustcalc.
+# However applications such as sample_many and sample_rand will
+# fail to load when CUSTOM is defined and "-dead_strip_dylibs" is used..
+#
+ifneq ($(ALLOW_CUSTOM),-DCUSTOM)
 COMMON_LDFLAGS+= -Wl,-dead_strip_dylibs
+endif	# ($(ALLOW_CUSTOM),-DCUSTOM)
 
 # static library option
 #
diff --git a/calc.c b/calc.c
index a483dd6..dd371cc 100644
--- a/calc.c
+++ b/calc.c
@@ -166,6 +166,11 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 #if defined(CUSTOM)
 					/*
 					 * validate custtbl_allowed value
+					 *
+					 * We make an explicit reference to the custtbl_allowed symbol
+					 * in libcustcalc (see custom/custtbl.c) so that the use
+					 * of "-dead_strip_dylibs" with the macOS linker won't cause
+					 * the calc to fail to load due to a missing symbol.
 					 */
 					if (custtbl_allowed == 0) {
 					    fprintf(stderr, "%s: calc was built with "
@@ -183,6 +188,11 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 #else /* CUSTOM */
 					/*
 					 * validate custtbl_allowed value
+					 *
+					 * We make an explicit reference to the custtbl_allowed symbol
+					 * in libcustcalc (see custom/custtbl.c) so that the use
+					 * of "-dead_strip_dylibs" with the macOS linker won't cause
+					 * the calc to fail to load due to a missing symbol.
 					 */
 					if (custtbl_allowed != 0) {
 					    fprintf(stderr, "%s: calc was built with "
diff --git a/custom.c b/custom.c
index a0e895b..1638db2 100644
--- a/custom.c
+++ b/custom.c
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@
 # include <string.h>
 #endif
 
+EXTERN CONST struct custom cust[];	/* custom interface table */
+
 #else /* CUSTOM */
 
 #include "config.h"
@@ -91,16 +93,6 @@ custom(char *name, int count, VALUE **vals)
 		}
 	}
 
-	/*
-	 * validate custtbl_allowed value
-	 */
-	if (custtbl_allowed == 0) {
-	    fprintf(stderr,
-		"%sCalc was built with custom functions enabled but custtbl_allowed: %d == 0\n",
-		(conf->tab_ok ? "\t" : ""), custtbl_allowed);
-	    return error_value(E_NO_CUSTOM);
-	}
-
 	/*
 	 * no such custom function
 	 */
@@ -117,15 +109,6 @@ custom(char *name, int count, VALUE **vals)
 		    (conf->tab_ok ? "\t" : ""), name, count,
 		    (vals == NULL) ? "NULL" : "non-NULL");
 	}
-
-	/*
-	 * validate custtbl_allowed value
-	 */
-	if (custtbl_allowed != 0) {
-	    fprintf(stderr,
-		"%sCalc was built with custom functions disabled but custtbl_allowed: %d != 0\n",
-		(conf->tab_ok ? "\t" : ""), custtbl_allowed);
-	}
 	return error_value(E_NO_CUSTOM);
 
 #endif /* CUSTOM */
diff --git a/custom.h b/custom.h
index 42d246f..94f1707 100644
--- a/custom.h
+++ b/custom.h
@@ -78,9 +78,6 @@ E_FUNC VALUE custom(char*, int, VALUE**);	/* master custom interface */
 EXTERN BOOL allow_custom;		/* TRUE => custom builtins allowed */
 E_FUNC void showcustom(void);		/* print custom functions */
 E_FUNC void customhelp(char *);		/* direct custom help */
-#if defined(CUSTOM)
-EXTERN CONST struct custom cust[];	/* custom interface table */
-#endif /* CUSTOM */
 E_FUNC void init_custreg(void);		/* initialize custom registers */
 
 #endif /* !CUSTOM_H */