diff --git a/configure b/configure
index ab33b7d9ef..715dbad458 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2068,8 +2068,9 @@ if test "$target_bsd_user" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_BSD_USER=y" >> $config_mak
 fi
 
-# generate LDFLAGS for targets
+# generate QEMU_CFLAGS/LDFLAGS for targets
 
+cflags=""
 ldflags=""
 linker_script="-Wl,-T../config-host.ld -Wl,-T,\$(SRC_PATH)/\$(ARCH).ld"
 if test "$target_linux_user" = "yes" -o "$target_linux_user" = "yes" ; then
@@ -2105,6 +2106,7 @@ if test "$target_softmmu" = "yes" ; then
 fi
 
 echo "LDFLAGS+=$ldflags" >> $config_mak
+echo "QEMU_CFLAGS+=$cflags" >> $config_mak
 
 echo "/* Automatically generated by configure - do not modify */" > $config_h
 echo "#include \"../config-host.h\"" >> $config_h