diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d786d3a7c9..bf728d6d99 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -371,6 +371,8 @@ elif check_define __APPLE__; then
 elif check_define EMSCRIPTEN ; then
   host_os=emscripten
   cross_compile="yes"
+elif check_define __GNU__; then
+  host_os=gnu
 else
   # This is a fatal error, but don't report it yet, because we
   # might be going to just print the --help text, or it might