diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 2d02fdbeb..d51ad62df 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2009-01-06  Diego Pettenò  <flameeyes@gmail.com>
+
+	* builds/unix/configure.raw: Don't call AC_CANONICAL_BUILD and
+	AC_CANONICAL_TARGET and use $host_os only.  A nice explanation for
+	this change can be found at
+	http://blog.flameeyes.eu/s/canonical-target.
+
+	From Savannah patch #6712.
+
 2009-01-06  Sean McBride  <sean@rogue-research.com>
 
 	* src/base/ftdbgmem.c (_debug_mem_dummy): Make it static.
diff --git a/builds/unix/configure.raw b/builds/unix/configure.raw
index d5b053a8e..13f65e399 100644
--- a/builds/unix/configure.raw
+++ b/builds/unix/configure.raw
@@ -25,9 +25,7 @@ AC_SUBST([ft_version])
 
 # checks for system type
 
-AC_CANONICAL_BUILD
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
-AC_CANONICAL_TARGET
 
 
 # checks for programs
@@ -363,9 +361,9 @@ if test x$with_old_mac_fonts = xyes; then
      LDFLAGS="${orig_LDFLAGS}"
      CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -DDARWIN_NO_CARBON"])
 else
-  case x$target_os in
+  case x$host_os in
   xdarwin*)
-    dnl AC_MSG_WARN([target system is MacOS but configured to build without Carbon])
+    dnl AC_MSG_WARN([host system is MacOS but configured to build without Carbon])
     CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -DDARWIN_NO_CARBON"
     ;;
   *) ;;