diff --git a/tools/configure b/tools/configure
index 0eb577f60e..8423482b50 100755
--- a/tools/configure
+++ b/tools/configure
@@ -1879,6 +1879,7 @@ export ENABLEDPLUGINS=@PLUGINS@
 export SOFTWARECODECS=@CODECS@
 export EXTRA_DEFINES=@EXTRADEF@
 export HOSTCC=gcc
+export HOSTAR=ar
 export CC=@CC@
 export LD=@LD@
 export AR=@AR@
@@ -1944,10 +1945,10 @@ clean:
 	          voicefontids *.wav *.mp3 *.voice
 
 tools:
-	\$(SILENT)\$(MAKE) -C \$(TOOLSDIR) CC=\$(HOSTCC) @TOOLSET@
+	\$(SILENT)\$(MAKE) -C \$(TOOLSDIR) CC=\$(HOSTCC) AR=\$(HOSTAR) @TOOLSET@
 
 voicetools:
-	\$(SILENT)\$(MAKE) -C \$(TOOLSDIR) CC=\$(HOSTCC) @VOICETOOLSET@
+	\$(SILENT)\$(MAKE) -C \$(TOOLSDIR) CC=\$(HOSTCC) AR=\$(HOSTAR) @VOICETOOLSET@
 
 tags:
 	\$(SILENT)rm -f TAGS
diff --git a/tools/rbspeex/Makefile b/tools/rbspeex/Makefile
index 06e1dd941a..2e8a692c3d 100644
--- a/tools/rbspeex/Makefile
+++ b/tools/rbspeex/Makefile
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ $(DEPFILE): $(SOURCES)
 
 libspeex.a: $(OBJS) $(DEPFILE)
 	@echo AR libspeex.a
-	$(SILENT)ar ruv $@ $+ > /dev/null 2>&1
+	$(SILENT)$(AR) ruv $@ $+ > /dev/null 2>&1
 
 ../rbspeexenc: $(OBJS) libspeex.a rbspeexenc.o
 	@echo Linking ../rbspeexenc