diff --git a/internal/cmd/buildtool/android_test.go b/internal/cmd/buildtool/android_test.go
index 7daa564dfb..30169927bf 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/buildtool/android_test.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/buildtool/android_test.go
@@ -754,12 +754,6 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsOpenSSL(t *testing.T) {
 				"DESTDIR=" + faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm",
 				"install_dev",
 			},
-		}, {
-			Env: []string{},
-			Argv: []string{
-				"rm", "-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm/lib/pkgconfig",
-			},
 		}, {
 			Env: []string{},
 			Argv: []string{
@@ -815,12 +809,6 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsOpenSSL(t *testing.T) {
 				"DESTDIR=" + faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64",
 				"install_dev",
 			},
-		}, {
-			Env: []string{},
-			Argv: []string{
-				"rm", "-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64/lib/pkgconfig",
-			},
 		}, {
 			Env: []string{},
 			Argv: []string{
@@ -876,12 +864,6 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsOpenSSL(t *testing.T) {
 				"DESTDIR=" + faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386",
 				"install_dev",
 			},
-		}, {
-			Env: []string{},
-			Argv: []string{
-				"rm", "-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386/lib/pkgconfig",
-			},
 		}, {
 			Env: []string{},
 			Argv: []string{
@@ -937,12 +919,6 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsOpenSSL(t *testing.T) {
 				"DESTDIR=" + faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64",
 				"install_dev",
 			},
-		}, {
-			Env: []string{},
-			Argv: []string{
-				"rm", "-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64/lib/pkgconfig",
-			},
 		}},
 	}}
 
@@ -1045,6 +1021,7 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsLibevent(t *testing.T) {
 					"CXXFLAGS=-fdata-sections -ffunction-sections -fstack-protector-strong -funwind-tables -no-canonical-prefixes -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fpic -mthumb -Oz -DANDROID",
 					"-I"+faketopdir+"/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm/include",
 				),
+				"PKG_CONFIG_PATH=" + faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm/lib/pkgconfig",
 			},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"./configure",
@@ -1077,8 +1054,36 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsLibevent(t *testing.T) {
 			Env: []string{},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"rm",
-				"-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm/lib/pkgconfig",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm/lib/pkgconfig/libevent.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_core.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_extra.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_openssl.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_pthreads.pc",
 			},
 		}, {
 			Env: []string{},
@@ -1195,6 +1200,7 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsLibevent(t *testing.T) {
 					"CXXFLAGS=-fdata-sections -ffunction-sections -fstack-protector-strong -funwind-tables -no-canonical-prefixes -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fpic -O2 -DANDROID",
 					"-I"+faketopdir+"/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64/include",
 				),
+				"PKG_CONFIG_PATH=" + faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64/lib/pkgconfig",
 			},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"./configure",
@@ -1227,8 +1233,36 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsLibevent(t *testing.T) {
 			Env: []string{},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"rm",
-				"-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64/lib/pkgconfig",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_core.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_extra.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_openssl.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/arm64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_pthreads.pc",
 			},
 		}, {
 			Env: []string{},
@@ -1345,6 +1379,7 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsLibevent(t *testing.T) {
 					"CXXFLAGS=-fdata-sections -ffunction-sections -fstack-protector-strong -funwind-tables -no-canonical-prefixes -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fPIC -O2 -DANDROID -mstackrealign",
 					"-I"+faketopdir+"/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386/include",
 				),
+				"PKG_CONFIG_PATH=" + faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386/lib/pkgconfig",
 			},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"./configure",
@@ -1377,8 +1412,36 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsLibevent(t *testing.T) {
 			Env: []string{},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"rm",
-				"-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386/lib/pkgconfig",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386/lib/pkgconfig/libevent.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_core.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_extra.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_openssl.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/386/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_pthreads.pc",
 			},
 		}, {
 			Env: []string{},
@@ -1495,6 +1558,7 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsLibevent(t *testing.T) {
 					"CXXFLAGS=-fdata-sections -ffunction-sections -fstack-protector-strong -funwind-tables -no-canonical-prefixes -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fPIC -O2 -DANDROID",
 					"-I"+faketopdir+"/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64/include",
 				),
+				"PKG_CONFIG_PATH=" + faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64/lib/pkgconfig",
 			},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"./configure",
@@ -1527,8 +1591,36 @@ func TestAndroidBuildCdepsLibevent(t *testing.T) {
 			Env: []string{},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"rm",
-				"-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64/lib/pkgconfig",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_core.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_extra.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_openssl.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/internal/cmd/buildtool/internal/libtor/android/amd64/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_pthreads.pc",
 			},
 		}, {
 			Env: []string{},
diff --git a/internal/cmd/buildtool/cdepslibevent.go b/internal/cmd/buildtool/cdepslibevent.go
index f6b8504079..925fb4d4e6 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/buildtool/cdepslibevent.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/buildtool/cdepslibevent.go
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ func cdepsLibeventBuildMain(globalEnv *cBuildEnv, deps buildtoolmodel.Dependenci
 	}
 	envp := cBuildExportAutotools(cBuildMerge(globalEnv, localEnv))
 
-	// On iOS, we need PKG_CONFIG_PATH to convince libevent to use the OpenSSL we built but]
-	// always letting libevent's configure be pkgconfig aware would probably be fine
+	// On iOS, we need PKG_CONFIG_PATH to convince libevent to use the OpenSSL we built and
+	// always letting libevent's configure use pkgconfig is actually fine.
 	envp.Append("PKG_CONFIG_PATH", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "lib", "pkgconfig"))
 
 	argv := runtimex.Try1(shellx.NewArgv("./configure"))
@@ -63,7 +63,17 @@ func cdepsLibeventBuildMain(globalEnv *cBuildEnv, deps buildtoolmodel.Dependenci
 	must.Run(log.Log, "make", "V=1", "-j", strconv.Itoa(runtime.NumCPU()))
 	must.Run(log.Log, "make", "DESTDIR="+globalEnv.DESTDIR, "install")
 	must.Run(log.Log, "rm", "-rf", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "bin"))
-	must.Run(log.Log, "rm", "-rf", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "lib", "pkgconfig"))
+
+	// We used to delete the whole pkgconfig directory but libevent's build needs OpenSSL's
+	// pkgconfig, so removing the whole directory means rebuilding libevent requires building
+	// OpenSSL because its pkgconfig is also removed. We discovered this need when working
+	// on the https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/pull/1366 MVP. To keep the build idempotent,
+	// let's be more gentle and just remove libevent's pkgconfig files instead.
+	must.Run(log.Log, "rm", "-f", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "lib", "pkgconfig", "libevent.pc"))
+	must.Run(log.Log, "rm", "-f", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "lib", "pkgconfig", "libevent_core.pc"))
+	must.Run(log.Log, "rm", "-f", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "lib", "pkgconfig", "libevent_extra.pc"))
+	must.Run(log.Log, "rm", "-f", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "lib", "pkgconfig", "libevent_openssl.pc"))
+	must.Run(log.Log, "rm", "-f", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "lib", "pkgconfig", "libevent_pthreads.pc"))
 
 	// we just need libevent.a
 	must.Run(log.Log, "rm", "-rf", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "lib", "libevent.la"))
diff --git a/internal/cmd/buildtool/cdepsopenssl.go b/internal/cmd/buildtool/cdepsopenssl.go
index 9ad149860e..fba0eb6535 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/buildtool/cdepsopenssl.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/buildtool/cdepsopenssl.go
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ func cdepsOpenSSLBuildMain(globalEnv *cBuildEnv, deps buildtoolmodel.Dependencie
 
 	must.Run(log.Log, "make", "DESTDIR="+globalEnv.DESTDIR, "install_dev")
 
-	// FIXME: we need to explain this change
+	// We used to delete the pkgconfig but it turns out this is important for libevent iOS builds, which
+	// means now we need to keep it. See https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/pull/1369 for details.
 	//must.Run(log.Log, "rm", "-rf", filepath.Join(globalEnv.DESTDIR, "lib", "pkgconfig"))
 }
diff --git a/internal/cmd/buildtool/linuxcdeps_test.go b/internal/cmd/buildtool/linuxcdeps_test.go
index 85ca172934..40d4b5817e 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/buildtool/linuxcdeps_test.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/buildtool/linuxcdeps_test.go
@@ -136,12 +136,6 @@ func TestLinuxCdepsBuildMain(t *testing.T) {
 				"DESTDIR=" + faketopdir + "/" + sysDepDestDir,
 				"install_dev",
 			},
-		}, {
-			Env: []string{},
-			Argv: []string{
-				"rm", "-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/" + sysDepDestDir + "/lib/pkgconfig",
-			},
 		}},
 	}, {
 		name:   "we can build libevent",
@@ -195,6 +189,7 @@ func TestLinuxCdepsBuildMain(t *testing.T) {
 					faketopdir,
 					sysDepDestDir,
 				),
+				"PKG_CONFIG_PATH=" + faketopdir + "/" + sysDepDestDir + "/lib/pkgconfig",
 			},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"./configure",
@@ -226,8 +221,36 @@ func TestLinuxCdepsBuildMain(t *testing.T) {
 			Env: []string{},
 			Argv: []string{
 				"rm",
-				"-rf",
-				faketopdir + "/" + sysDepDestDir + "/lib/pkgconfig",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/" + sysDepDestDir + "/lib/pkgconfig/libevent.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/" + sysDepDestDir + "/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_core.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/" + sysDepDestDir + "/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_extra.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/" + sysDepDestDir + "/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_openssl.pc",
+			},
+		}, {
+			Env: []string{},
+			Argv: []string{
+				"rm",
+				"-f",
+				faketopdir + "/" + sysDepDestDir + "/lib/pkgconfig/libevent_pthreads.pc",
 			},
 		}, {
 			Env: []string{},