diff --git a/Source/cmComputeLinkDepends.cxx b/Source/cmComputeLinkDepends.cxx
index 465db92b7c..13098ad5b3 100644
--- a/Source/cmComputeLinkDepends.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmComputeLinkDepends.cxx
@@ -185,7 +185,9 @@ cmComputeLinkDepends
   // The configuration being linked.
   this->HasConfig = !config.empty();
   this->Config = (this->HasConfig)? config : std::string();
-  this->LinkType = this->Target->Target->ComputeLinkType(this->Config);
+  std::vector<std::string> debugConfigs =
+    this->Makefile->GetCMakeInstance()->GetDebugConfigs();
+  this->LinkType = CMP0003_ComputeLinkType(this->Config, debugConfigs);
 
   // Enable debug mode if requested.
   this->DebugMode = this->Makefile->IsOn("CMAKE_LINK_DEPENDS_DEBUG_MODE");
diff --git a/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx b/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx
index 6e312ced83..2a35259d4d 100644
--- a/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx
@@ -5877,7 +5877,12 @@ void cmGeneratorTarget::ComputeLinkImplementationLibraries(
                                 this->MaxLanguageStandards);
     }
 
-  cmTargetLinkLibraryType linkType = this->Target->ComputeLinkType(config);
+  // Get the list of configurations considered to be DEBUG.
+  std::vector<std::string> debugConfigs =
+    this->Makefile->GetCMakeInstance()->GetDebugConfigs();
+
+  cmTargetLinkLibraryType linkType =
+      CMP0003_ComputeLinkType(config, debugConfigs);
   cmTarget::LinkLibraryVectorType const& oldllibs =
     this->Target->GetOriginalLinkLibraries();
   for(cmTarget::LinkLibraryVectorType::const_iterator li = oldllibs.begin();
diff --git a/Source/cmLinkItem.h b/Source/cmLinkItem.h
index b875cc03db..b603bcc2a3 100644
--- a/Source/cmLinkItem.h
+++ b/Source/cmLinkItem.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #define cmLinkItem_h
 
 #include "cmListFileCache.h"
+#include "cmSystemTools.h"
 
 class cmGeneratorTarget;
 
@@ -118,4 +119,27 @@ struct cmOptionalLinkImplementation: public cmLinkImplementation
   bool HadHeadSensitiveCondition;
 };
 
+/** Compute the link type to use for the given configuration.  */
+inline cmTargetLinkLibraryType
+CMP0003_ComputeLinkType(const std::string& config,
+                        std::vector<std::string> const& debugConfigs)
+{
+  // No configuration is always optimized.
+  if(config.empty())
+    {
+    return OPTIMIZED_LibraryType;
+    }
+
+  // Check if any entry in the list matches this configuration.
+  std::string configUpper = cmSystemTools::UpperCase(config);
+  if (std::find(debugConfigs.begin(), debugConfigs.end(), configUpper) !=
+      debugConfigs.end())
+    {
+    return DEBUG_LibraryType;
+    }
+  // The current configuration is not a debug configuration.
+  return OPTIMIZED_LibraryType;
+}
+
+
 #endif
diff --git a/Source/cmTarget.cxx b/Source/cmTarget.cxx
index 63d3d072d4..0d8c57d220 100644
--- a/Source/cmTarget.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmTarget.cxx
@@ -582,31 +582,6 @@ const std::vector<std::string>& cmTarget::GetLinkDirectories() const
   return this->LinkDirectories;
 }
 
-//----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-cmTargetLinkLibraryType cmTarget::ComputeLinkType(
-                                      const std::string& config) const
-{
-  // No configuration is always optimized.
-  if(config.empty())
-    {
-    return OPTIMIZED_LibraryType;
-    }
-
-  // Get the list of configurations considered to be DEBUG.
-  std::vector<std::string> debugConfigs =
-    this->Makefile->GetCMakeInstance()->GetDebugConfigs();
-
-  // Check if any entry in the list matches this configuration.
-  std::string configUpper = cmSystemTools::UpperCase(config);
-  if (std::find(debugConfigs.begin(), debugConfigs.end(), configUpper) !=
-      debugConfigs.end())
-    {
-    return DEBUG_LibraryType;
-    }
-  // The current configuration is not a debug configuration.
-  return OPTIMIZED_LibraryType;
-}
-
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 void cmTarget::ClearDependencyInformation( cmMakefile& mf,
                                            const std::string& target )
diff --git a/Source/cmTarget.h b/Source/cmTarget.h
index 33631e79f9..9ed7f841e0 100644
--- a/Source/cmTarget.h
+++ b/Source/cmTarget.h
@@ -140,9 +140,6 @@ public:
   const LinkLibraryVectorType &GetOriginalLinkLibraries() const
     {return this->OriginalLinkLibraries;}
 
-  /** Compute the link type to use for the given configuration.  */
-  cmTargetLinkLibraryType ComputeLinkType(const std::string& config) const;
-
   /**
    * Clear the dependency information recorded for this target, if any.
    */