diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 11f7f9adb92b..301296c42159 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -338,28 +338,28 @@ else
     AC_CHECK_PROGS(STRIP, strip, :)
     AC_CHECK_PROGS(WINDRES, windres, :)
     if test -z "$HOST_CC"; then
-        HOST_CC="$CC"
+        HOST_CC='$(CC)'
     fi
     if test -z "$HOST_CFLAGS"; then
-        HOST_CFLAGS="$CFLAGS"
+        HOST_CFLAGS='$(CFLAGS)'
     fi
     if test -z "$HOST_CXX"; then
-        HOST_CXX="$CXX"
+        HOST_CXX='$(CXX)'
     fi
     if test -z "$HOST_CXXFLAGS"; then
-        HOST_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
+        HOST_CXXFLAGS='$(CXXFLAGS)'
     fi
     if test -z "$HOST_LDFLAGS"; then
-        HOST_LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS"
+        HOST_LDFLAGS='$(LDFLAGS)'
     fi
     if test -z "$HOST_RANLIB"; then
-        HOST_RANLIB="$RANLIB"
+        HOST_RANLIB='$(RANLIB)'
     fi
     if test -z "$HOST_AR"; then
-        HOST_AR="$AR"
+        HOST_AR='$(AR)'
     fi
     if test -z "$HOST_AR_FLAGS"; then
-        HOST_AR_FLAGS="$AR_FLAGS"
+        HOST_AR_FLAGS='$(AR_FLAGS)'
     fi
 fi
 
@@ -8790,7 +8790,7 @@ AC_SUBST(PYTHON)
 # Populate the virtualenv
 AC_MSG_RESULT([Populating Python virtualenv])
 MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET= LDFLAGS="${HOST_LDFLAGS}" \
-  CC="${HOST_CC}" CXX="${HOST_CXX}" \
+  CC="${CC}" CXX="${CXX}" \
   CFLAGS="${HOST_CFLAGS}" CXXFLAGS="${HOST_CXXFLAGS}" \
   $PYTHON $_topsrcdir/build/virtualenv/populate_virtualenv.py \
     $_topsrcdir $_topsrcdir/build/virtualenv/packages.txt \