diff --git a/build/configure.ac.tools b/build/configure.ac.tools
index a24dbcecb..fb085efda 100644
--- a/build/configure.ac.tools
+++ b/build/configure.ac.tools
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ AC_PROG_CXX dnl required for BeOS (and cannot be a conditional dependency)
 AM_PROG_CC_C_O
 AC_C_INLINE
 
+# Set reasonable defaults for the tools in case we are cross-compiling
+if test "${build}" != "${host}" ; then
+    CC_FOR_BUILD=${CC_FOR_BUILD-cc}
+else
+    CC_FOR_BUILD=${CC}
+fi
+
 dnl ===========================================================================
 
 PKG_PROG_PKG_CONFIG()