diff --git a/Makefile.target b/Makefile.target
index c8281e90a9..18826bb356 100644
--- a/Makefile.target
+++ b/Makefile.target
@@ -329,7 +329,10 @@ clean:
 
 install: all
 ifneq ($(PROGS),)
-	$(INSTALL) -m 755 $(STRIP_OPT) $(PROGS) "$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)"
+	$(INSTALL) -m 755 $(PROGS) "$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)"
+ifneq ($(STRIP),)
+	$(STRIP) $(patsubst %,"$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/%",$(PROGS))
+endif
 endif
 
 # Include automatically generated dependency files
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index a20371ca71..146dac02a7 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ make="make"
 install="install"
 objcopy="objcopy"
 ld="ld"
+strip="strip"
 helper_cflags=""
 libs_softmmu=""
 libs_tools=""
@@ -125,6 +126,7 @@ cc="${cross_prefix}${cc}"
 ar="${cross_prefix}${ar}"
 objcopy="${cross_prefix}${objcopy}"
 ld="${cross_prefix}${ld}"
+strip="${cross_prefix}${strip}"
 
 # default flags for all hosts
 QEMU_CFLAGS="-fno-strict-aliasing $QEMU_CFLAGS"
@@ -2227,7 +2229,7 @@ if test "$debug" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_DEBUG_EXEC=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
 if test "$strip_opt" = "yes" ; then
-  echo "STRIP_OPT=-s" >> $config_host_mak
+  echo "STRIP=${strip}" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
 if test "$bigendian" = "yes" ; then
   echo "HOST_WORDS_BIGENDIAN=y" >> $config_host_mak