diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 856947fb..32d4a5af 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ if (TOMATO_ASAN)
 	endif()
 endif()
 
+# uggly, but it needs to be defined for all of tomato.
+# but this also means that we can not compile tomato in the same cmake as plugins
+add_compile_definitions(ENTT_API_EXPORT)
+
 # external libs
 add_subdirectory(./external) # before increasing warn levels, sad :(
 
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index a8bb31de..cacd6b14 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -105,3 +105,8 @@ target_link_libraries(tomato PUBLIC
 	SDL3_image::SDL3_image
 )
 
+# probably not enough
+#target_compile_definitions(tomato PUBLIC ENTT_API_EXPORT)
+
+set_target_properties(tomato PROPERTIES POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
+