diff --git a/build-aux/common.mk b/build-aux/common.mk
--- a/build-aux/common.mk
+++ b/build-aux/common.mk
@@ -563,7 +563,12 @@
   -e "s|%OCTAVE_CONF_MAGICK_CPPFLAGS%|\"${MAGICK_CPPFLAGS}\"|" \
   -e "s|%OCTAVE_CONF_MAGICK_LDFLAGS%|\"${MAGICK_LDFLAGS}\"|" \
   -e "s|%OCTAVE_CONF_MAGICK_LIBS%|\"${MAGICK_LIBS}\"|" \
+  -e 's|%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_CC%|\"@MKOCTFILE_CC@\"|' \
+  -e 's|%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_CXX%|\"@MKOCTFILE_CXX@\"|' \
+  -e 's|%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_DL_LD%|\"@MKOCTFILE_DL_LD@\"|' \
   -e 's|%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_DL_LDFLAGS%|\"@MKOCTFILE_DL_LDFLAGS@\"|' \
+  -e 's|%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_F77%|\"@MKOCTFILE_F77@\"|' \
+  -e 's|%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_LD_CXX%|\"@MKOCTFILE_LD_CXX@\"|' \
   -e "s|%OCTAVE_CONF_OCTAVE_LINK_DEPS%|\"${OCTAVE_LINK_DEPS}\"|" \
   -e "s|%OCTAVE_CONF_OCTAVE_LINK_OPTS%|\"${OCTAVE_LINK_OPTS}\"|" \
   -e "s|%OCTAVE_CONF_OCTINCLUDEDIR%|\"${octincludedir}\"|" \
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1811,6 +1811,30 @@
 AC_SUBST(LIBOCTINTERP)
 AC_SUBST(LIBOCTAVE)
 
+if test "$cross_compiling" = yes && test -n "$ac_tool_prefix"; then
+  MKOCTFILE_CC=`echo $CC | sed "s,$ac_tool_prefix,,"`
+  MKOCTFILE_CXX=`echo $CXX | sed "s,$ac_tool_prefix,,"`
+  MKOCTFILE_DL_LD=`echo $DL_LD | sed "s,$ac_tool_prefix,,"`
+  MKOCTFILE_F77=`echo $F77 | sed "s,$ac_tool_prefix,,"`
+  MKOCTFILE_LD_CXX=`echo $LD_CXX | sed "s,$ac_tool_prefix,,"`
+else
+  MKOCTFILE_CC="$CC"
+  MKOCTFILE_CXX="$CXX"
+  MKOCTFILE_DL_LD="$DL_LD"
+  MKOCTFILE_F77="$F77"
+  MKOCTFILE_LD_CXX="$LD_CXX"
+fi
+AC_MSG_NOTICE([defining MKOCTFILE_CC to be $MKOCTFILE_CC])
+AC_MSG_NOTICE([defining MKOCTFILE_CXX to be $MKOCTFILE_CXX])
+AC_MSG_NOTICE([defining MKOCTFILE_DL_LD to be $MKOCTFILE_DL_LD])
+AC_MSG_NOTICE([defining MKOCTFILE_F77 to be $MKOCTFILE_F77])
+AC_MSG_NOTICE([defining MKOCTFILE_LD_CXX to be $MKOCTFILE_LD_CXX])
+AC_SUBST(MKOCTFILE_CC)
+AC_SUBST(MKOCTFILE_CXX)
+AC_SUBST(MKOCTFILE_DL_LD)
+AC_SUBST(MKOCTFILE_F77)
+AC_SUBST(MKOCTFILE_LD_CXX)
+
 ### Check for existence of various libraries
 
 ## OS-specific test for dirent, opendir.
diff --git a/src/mkoctfile.in.cc b/src/mkoctfile.in.cc
--- a/src/mkoctfile.in.cc
+++ b/src/mkoctfile.in.cc
@@ -202,13 +202,13 @@
 
   vars["CPPFLAGS"] = get_variable ("CPPFLAGS", %OCTAVE_CONF_CPPFLAGS%);
   vars["INCFLAGS"] = get_variable ("INCFLAGS", DEFAULT_INCFLAGS);
-  vars["F77"] = get_variable ("F77", %OCTAVE_CONF_F77%);
+  vars["F77"] = get_variable ("F77", %OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_F77%);
   vars["FFLAGS"] = get_variable ("FFLAGS", %OCTAVE_CONF_FFLAGS%);
   vars["FPICFLAG"] = get_variable ("FPICFLAG", %OCTAVE_CONF_FPICFLAG%);
-  vars["CC"] = get_variable ("CC", %OCTAVE_CONF_CC%);
+  vars["CC"] = get_variable ("CC", %OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_CC%);
   vars["CFLAGS"] = get_variable ("CFLAGS", %OCTAVE_CONF_CFLAGS%);
   vars["CPICFLAG"] = get_variable ("CPICFLAG", %OCTAVE_CONF_CPICFLAG%);
-  vars["CXX"] = get_variable ("CXX", %OCTAVE_CONF_CXX%);
+  vars["CXX"] = get_variable ("CXX", %OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_CXX%);
   vars["CXXFLAGS"] = get_variable ("CXXFLAGS", %OCTAVE_CONF_CXXFLAGS%);
   vars["CXXPICFLAG"] = get_variable ("CXXPICFLAG", %OCTAVE_CONF_CXXPICFLAG%);
   vars["XTRA_CFLAGS"] = get_variable ("XTRA_CFLAGS", %OCTAVE_CONF_XTRA_CFLAGS%);
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@
   vars["DEPEND_FLAGS"] = get_variable ("DEPEND_FLAGS", %OCTAVE_CONF_DEPEND_FLAGS%);
   vars["DEPEND_EXTRA_SED_PATTERN"] = get_variable ("DEPEND_EXTRA_SED_PATTERN", %OCTAVE_CONF_DEPEND_EXTRA_SED_PATTERN%);
 
-  vars["DL_LD"] = get_variable ("DL_LD", %OCTAVE_CONF_DL_LD%);
+  vars["DL_LD"] = get_variable ("DL_LD", %OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_DL_LD%);
   vars["DL_LDFLAGS"] = get_variable ("DL_LDFLAGS", %OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_DL_LDFLAGS%);
 
   vars["RDYNAMIC_FLAG"] = get_variable ("RDYNAMIC_FLAG", %OCTAVE_CONF_RDYNAMIC_FLAG%);
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@
   vars["OCT_LINK_DEPS"] = get_variable ("FLIBS", %OCTAVE_CONF_OCT_LINK_DEPS%);
   vars["FLIBS"] = get_variable ("FLIBS", %OCTAVE_CONF_FLIBS%);
 
-  vars["LD_CXX"] = get_variable ("LD_CXX", %OCTAVE_CONF_LD_CXX%);
+  vars["LD_CXX"] = get_variable ("LD_CXX", %OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_LD_CXX%);
   vars["LDFLAGS"] = get_variable ("LDFLAGS", %OCTAVE_CONF_LDFLAGS%);
   vars["LD_STATIC_FLAG"] = get_variable ("LD_STATIC_FLAG", %OCTAVE_CONF_LD_STATIC_FLAG%);
   vars["LFLAGS"] = get_variable ("LFLAGS", DEFAULT_LFLAGS);
diff --git a/src/mkoctfile.in.sh b/src/mkoctfile.in.sh
--- a/src/mkoctfile.in.sh
+++ b/src/mkoctfile.in.sh
@@ -67,13 +67,13 @@
 
 : ${CPPFLAGS=%OCTAVE_CONF_CPPFLAGS%}
 : ${INCFLAGS=$DEFAULT_INCFLAGS}
-: ${F77=%OCTAVE_CONF_F77%}
+: ${F77=%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_F77%}
 : ${FFLAGS=%OCTAVE_CONF_FFLAGS%}
 : ${FPICFLAG=%OCTAVE_CONF_FPICFLAG%}
-: ${CC=%OCTAVE_CONF_CC%}
+: ${CC=%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_CC%}
 : ${CFLAGS=%OCTAVE_CONF_CFLAGS%}
 : ${CPICFLAG=%OCTAVE_CONF_CPICFLAG%}
-: ${CXX=%OCTAVE_CONF_CXX%}
+: ${CXX=%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_CXX%}
 : ${CXXFLAGS=%OCTAVE_CONF_CXXFLAGS%}
 : ${CXXPICFLAG=%OCTAVE_CONF_CXXPICFLAG%}
 : ${XTRA_CFLAGS=%OCTAVE_CONF_XTRA_CFLAGS%}
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@
 : ${DEPEND_FLAGS=%OCTAVE_CONF_DEPEND_FLAGS%}
 : ${DEPEND_EXTRA_SED_PATTERN=%OCTAVE_CONF_DEPEND_EXTRA_SED_PATTERN%}
 
-: ${DL_LD=%OCTAVE_CONF_DL_LD%}
+: ${DL_LD=%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_DL_LD%}
 : ${DL_LDFLAGS=%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_DL_LDFLAGS%}
 
 : ${RDYNAMIC_FLAG=%OCTAVE_CONF_RDYNAMIC_FLAG%}
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@
 : ${OCTAVE_LINK_OPTS=%OCTAVE_CONF_OCTAVE_LINK_OPTS%}
 : ${OCT_LINK_DEPS=%OCTAVE_CONF_OCT_LINK_DEPS%}
 : ${OCT_LINK_OPTS=%OCTAVE_CONF_OCT_LINK_OPTS%}
-: ${LD_CXX=%OCTAVE_CONF_LD_CXX%}
+: ${LD_CXX=%OCTAVE_CONF_MKOCTFILE_LD_CXX%}
 : ${LDFLAGS=%OCTAVE_CONF_LDFLAGS%}
 : ${LD_STATIC_FLAG=%OCTAVE_CONF_LD_STATIC_FLAG%}
 : ${LFLAGS=$DEFAULT_LFLAGS}