diff --git a/base/binutils/binutils.conf b/base/binutils/binutils.conf
index 21af4d966..da2f4aee9 100644
--- a/base/binutils/binutils.conf
+++ b/base/binutils/binutils.conf
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # This copyright note is auto-generated by ./scripts/Create-CopyPatch.
 #
 # Filename: package/.../binutils/binutils.conf
-# Copyright (C) 2007 - 2011 The OpenSDE Project
+# Copyright (C) 2007 - 2014 The OpenSDE Project
 # Copyright (C) 2004 - 2006 The T2 SDE Project
 #
 # More information can be found in the files COPYING and README.
@@ -22,6 +22,13 @@ if atstage toolchain; then
 
         var_append SYSCC_WRAPPER_REMOVE ' ' '-Werror'
 else
+	# like with gcc we need to explicitely specifiy the target arch
+	# so the binutils binaries we build at stage 0 get detected and
+	# not the ones from the host
+	if atstage cross; then
+		var_append extraconfopt ' ' "--target=$arch_target"
+	fi
+
 	if [ "$SDECFG_STATIC" != 1 ]; then
 		var_append confopt ' ' "--enable-shared"
 	fi