diff --git a/share/mk/host-target.mk b/share/mk/host-target.mk
index 754f1ece8cf..ef8cc80d658 100644
--- a/share/mk/host-target.mk
+++ b/share/mk/host-target.mk
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # $FreeBSD$
 # RCSid:
-#	$Id: host-target.mk,v 1.7 2014/05/16 17:54:52 sjg Exp $
+#	$Id: host-target.mk,v 1.11 2015/10/25 00:07:20 sjg Exp $
 
 # Host platform information; may be overridden
 .if !defined(_HOST_OSNAME)
@@ -11,24 +11,33 @@ _HOST_OSNAME !=	uname -s
 _HOST_OSREL  !=	uname -r
 .export _HOST_OSREL
 .endif
+.if !defined(_HOST_MACHINE)
+_HOST_MACHINE != uname -m
+.export _HOST_MACHINE
+.endif
 .if !defined(_HOST_ARCH)
-_HOST_ARCH   !=	uname -p 2>/dev/null || uname -m
+# for NetBSD prefer $MACHINE (amd64 rather than x86_64)
+.if ${_HOST_OSNAME:NNetBSD} == ""
+_HOST_ARCH := ${_HOST_MACHINE}
+.else
+_HOST_ARCH != uname -p 2> /dev/null || uname -m
 # uname -p may produce garbage on linux
-.if ${_HOST_ARCH:[\#]} > 1
-_HOST_ARCH != uname -m
+.if ${_HOST_ARCH:[\#]} > 1 || ${_HOST_ARCH:Nunknown} == ""
+_HOST_ARCH := ${_HOST_MACHINE}
+.endif
 .endif
 .export _HOST_ARCH
 .endif
 .if !defined(HOST_MACHINE)
-HOST_MACHINE != uname -m
+HOST_MACHINE := ${_HOST_MACHINE}
 .export HOST_MACHINE
 .endif
 
 HOST_OSMAJOR := ${_HOST_OSREL:C/[^0-9].*//}
-HOST_OSTYPE  :=	${_HOST_OSNAME}-${_HOST_OSREL:C/\([^\)]*\)//}-${_HOST_ARCH}
+HOST_OSTYPE  :=	${_HOST_OSNAME:S,/,,g}-${_HOST_OSREL:C/\([^\)]*\)//}-${_HOST_ARCH}
 HOST_OS      :=	${_HOST_OSNAME}
 host_os      :=	${_HOST_OSNAME:tl}
-HOST_TARGET  := ${host_os}${HOST_OSMAJOR}-${_HOST_ARCH}
+HOST_TARGET  := ${host_os:S,/,,g}${HOST_OSMAJOR}-${_HOST_ARCH}
 
 # tr is insanely non-portable, accommodate the lowest common denominator
 TR ?= tr