diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 90c2763034..482c71e4ed 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Tue Apr 21 12:31:33 1992  K. Richard Pixley  (rich@cygnus.com)
+
+	* configure: test for config.sub with "config.sub sun4" rather
+	  than "config.sub ${host_alias}".  Otherwise we can't tell a bad
+	  host alias from a missing config.sub.
+
 Mon Apr 20 18:16:36 1992  K. Richard Pixley  (rich@rtl.cygnus.com)
 
 	* Makefile.in: explicitly pass CFLAGS on recursion. no longer pass
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d8d44a8363..97cf431cca 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -324,7 +324,8 @@ fi
 
 configsub=`echo ${progname} | sed 's/configure$/config.sub/'`
 
-if ${configsub} `echo ${host_alias} | sed -e 's/ .*//'` >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+# this is a hack.  sun4 must always be a valid host alias or this will fail.
+if ${configsub} sun4 >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
 	true
 else
 	echo '***' cannot find config.sub.  1>&2