diff --git a/cmake/mpi.cmake b/cmake/mpi.cmake
index 71b184c1..d6fa5feb 100644
--- a/cmake/mpi.cmake
+++ b/cmake/mpi.cmake
@@ -15,6 +15,15 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
+# assume MPI was compiled with GCC, as in most Linux distributions;
+# with recent distributions, MPI may contain Link-Time Optimization
+# flags, which are compiler-specific and thus not portable:
+# if the compiler is not gcc, disable LTO and allow FindMPI to
+# make MPI work with Clang
+if ( CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "Clang" )
+     set( MPI_COMPILER_FLAGS "-fno-lto" )
+     message( STATUS "detecting MPI with Clang by disabling LTO" )
+endif()
 find_package(MPI)
 
 # Find the 'mpirun' frontend
diff --git a/post-install/CMakeLists.txt b/post-install/CMakeLists.txt
index 6e8bbd45..74130be5 100644
--- a/post-install/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/post-install/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ set( testdir "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/tests/functional" )
 set( common "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/common" )
 set( exampledir "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/examples/" )
 
+# Debug tests do not work in some distributions (e.g., Ubuntu 22.04),
+# hence they can be disabled during configuration with this option
+option(RUN_DEBUG_TESTS ON)
 configure_file( post-install-test.cmake.in post-install-test.cmake @ONLY )
 install(SCRIPT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/post-install-test.cmake)
 
diff --git a/post-install/post-install-test.cmake.in b/post-install/post-install-test.cmake.in
index 65c9ef9f..f6d9f64c 100644
--- a/post-install/post-install-test.cmake.in
+++ b/post-install/post-install-test.cmake.in
@@ -77,35 +77,40 @@ foreach(engine @ENGINES@)
     endforeach(nprocs)
 endforeach(engine)
 
-### Testing linking with debug library
-
-message("Compiling an LPF program with debug library")
-execute_process(
-       COMMAND @bindir@/lpfcc @srcdir@/test-lpf-debug.c -o test-lpf-debug -llpf_debug
-       WORKING_DIRECTORY @builddir@
-       RESULT_VARIABLE status
-       )
-if (NOT status EQUAL 0 )
-      message(SEND_ERROR "lpfcc failed compiling a simple LPF program with debug library")
-endif()
-
-message("Running an LPF program with debug library on any of the engines: @ENGINES@")
-foreach(engine @ENGINES@)
-    foreach( nprocs 2 3 )
-        execute_process(
-               COMMAND @bindir@/lpfrun -engine ${engine} -np ${nprocs} ./test-lpf-debug ${nprocs}
-               WORKING_DIRECTORY @builddir@
-               OUTPUT_FILE @builddir@/test-lpf-debug-${engine}-${nprocs}.log
-               ERROR_FILE  @builddir@/test-lpf-debug-${engine}-${nprocs}.log
-               RESULT_VARIABLE status
-               )
-
-        # error when no error has been detected
-        if (status EQUAL 0)
-              message(SEND_ERROR "Debug library failed to detect runtime error on engine ${engine} on P=${nprocs}")
-        endif()
-    endforeach(nprocs)
-endforeach(engine)
+# Debug tests do not work in some distributions (e.g., Ubuntu 22.04), hence they can be disabled during configuration
+if (RUN_DEBUG_TESTS)
+      ### Testing linking with debug library
+
+      message("Compiling an LPF program with debug library")
+      execute_process(
+            COMMAND @bindir@/lpfcc @srcdir@/test-lpf-debug.c -o test-lpf-debug -llpf_debug
+            WORKING_DIRECTORY @builddir@
+            RESULT_VARIABLE status
+            )
+      if (NOT status EQUAL 0 )
+            message(SEND_ERROR "lpfcc failed compiling a simple LPF program with debug library")
+      endif()
+
+      message("Running an LPF program with debug library on any of the engines: @ENGINES@")
+      foreach(engine @ENGINES@)
+      foreach( nprocs 2 3 )
+            execute_process(
+                  COMMAND @bindir@/lpfrun -engine ${engine} -np ${nprocs} ./test-lpf-debug ${nprocs}
+                  WORKING_DIRECTORY @builddir@
+                  OUTPUT_FILE @builddir@/test-lpf-debug-${engine}-${nprocs}.log
+                  ERROR_FILE  @builddir@/test-lpf-debug-${engine}-${nprocs}.log
+                  RESULT_VARIABLE status
+                  )
+
+            # error when no error has been detected
+            if (status EQUAL 0)
+                  message(SEND_ERROR "Debug library failed to detect runtime error on engine ${engine} on P=${nprocs}")
+            endif()
+      endforeach(nprocs)
+      endforeach(engine)
+else()
+      message(WARNING "skipping debug tests")
+endif(RUN_DEBUG_TESTS)
 
 endif(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
 
diff --git a/src/MPI/init.cpp b/src/MPI/init.cpp
index 68d16866..397c7466 100644
--- a/src/MPI/init.cpp
+++ b/src/MPI/init.cpp
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ namespace lpf {
 
 	bool mpi_initializer_ran = false;
 
-	void __attribute__((constructor)) mpi_initializer( int argc, char ** argv ) {
+	void __attribute__((constructor)) mpi_initializer() {
 		const char * const engine_c = std::getenv( "LPF_ENGINE" );
 		const std::string engine = std::string(
 				engine_c == NULL ?
@@ -68,69 +68,20 @@ namespace lpf {
 
 		//check if we need to initialise MPI
 		if( LPF_MPI_AUTO_INITIALIZE ) {
-			//yes-- in so doing, take care of the command-line arguments
-			//that the MPI implementation <em>may</em> modify. Most (all?)
-			//modern implementations do not change the given argc/argv,
-			//but, to nevertheless be sure, we handle here the removal of
-			//CLI arguments by MPI_Init.
-			assert( argc > 0 );
-			assert( argv != NULL );
-			std::vector< size_t > arglengths;
-			for( size_t i = 0; i < static_cast< size_t >(argc); ++i ) {
-				arglengths.push_back( strlen( argv[i] ) );
-			}
-			assert( arglengths.size() == static_cast< size_t >(argc) );
-
-			int new_argc = argc;
-			char ** new_argv = argv;
-
 			try {
-				lpf::Interface::initRoot( &new_argc, &new_argv );
+				// the linker of recent Linux distributions does NOT initialize
+				// argc/argv anymore during LD_PRELOAD (it was an undocumented feature);
+				// hence, we cannot get implementation-specific MPI flags (which no major
+				// MPI implementor anyway has), and we don't care about other flags;
+				// therefore, ignore argc/argv tout court and pass NULL
+				// (which is allowed by MPI_Init[_thread]())
+				lpf::Interface::initRoot( NULL, NULL );
 			}
 			catch( std::exception &e ) {
 				const std::string error = e.what();
 				(void) std::fprintf( stderr, "Failed to auto-initialize engine:\n\t%s\n", error.c_str() );
 				std::abort();
 			}
-
-			assert( new_argc != 0 );
-			assert( new_argv != NULL );
-			assert( new_argc <= argc );
-
-			if( !(argc == new_argc && argv == new_argv) ) {
-				//MPI_Init changed our arguments, create a copy of the new ones
-				std::vector< std::string > modified;
-				size_t new_pos = 0;
-				for(
-					size_t i = 0;
-					i < static_cast< size_t >(new_argc);
-					++i
-				) {
-					const size_t size = strlen( new_argv[ i ] );
-					while(
-						new_pos < static_cast< size_t >(argc) &&
-						size > arglengths[ new_pos++ ]
-					) {
-						//the new string does not fit here; set this argument
-						//to empty and hope that the next one can fit it:
-						modified.push_back( "" );
-					}
-					modified.push_back( new_argv[ i ] );
-				}
-				//sanity check
-				if( modified.size() > static_cast< size_t >(argc) ) {
-					(void) std::fprintf( stderr, "Program arguments returned by MPI_Init cannot be copied back into original argument list.\n" );
-					abort();
-				}
-				//pad to size of argc
-				for( size_t i = modified.size(); i < static_cast< size_t >( argc ); ++i ) {
-					modified.push_back( "" );
-				}
-				//copy back the new arguments in the original argv
-				for( size_t i = 0; i < static_cast< size_t >( argc ); ++i ) {
-					(void) strncpy( argv[ i ], modified[ i ].c_str(), arglengths[ i ] );
-				}
-			}
 		}
 	}
 }