diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b1adf3456c..a7bb01d247 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ CROSS = #/usr/i386-linux-uclibc/usr/bin/i386-uclibc-
 CC = $(CROSS)gcc
 AR = $(CROSS)ar
 STRIP = $(CROSS)strip
+RANLIB = $(CROSS)ranlib
 
+export CROSS CC AR STRIP RANLIB
 
 # code taken from uClibc to determine the current arch
 ARCH := ${shell $(CC) -dumpmachine | sed -e s'/-.*//' -e 's/i.86/i386/' -e 's/sparc.*/sparc/' \
diff --git a/libsysfs/Makefile b/libsysfs/Makefile
index cf07a842b6..79cc533959 100644
--- a/libsysfs/Makefile
+++ b/libsysfs/Makefile
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 # Makefile for libsysfs.a
 # Copyright (c) International Business Machines Corp., 2003
 
-CC=gcc
-
 H_INCLUDE=../include
 LIB_INCLUDE=.
 OBJS=sysfs_bus.o sysfs_class.o sysfs_device.o sysfs_dir.o sysfs_driver.o \
@@ -19,8 +17,8 @@ LIBSYSFS=libsysfs.a
 RM=rm -f
 
 libsysfs.a: $(OBJS)
-	ar cru $(LIBSYSFS) $(OBJS)
-	ranlib $(LIBSYSFS)
+	$(AR) cru $(LIBSYSFS) $(OBJS)
+	$(RANLIB) $(LIBSYSFS)
 
 sysfs_bus.o: sysfs_bus.c
 	$(CC) -I$(H_INCLUDE) -I$(LIB_INCLUDE) $(CFLAGS) -c sysfs_bus.c