diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/ed/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/ed/default.nix
index 9f26c0a2886e..905cde880edd 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/ed/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/ed/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   doCheck = true;
 
+  crossAttrs = {
+    compileFlags = [ "CC=${stdenv.cross.config}-gcc" ];
+  };
+
   meta = {
     description = "GNU ed, an implementation of the standard Unix editor";
 
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/klibc/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/klibc/default.nix
index 8bd911ee0805..0a2747eb1657 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/klibc/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/klibc/default.nix
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, perl, bison, mktemp, linuxHeaders}:
+{stdenv, fetchurl, perl, bison, mktemp, linuxHeaders, linuxHeadersCross}:
 
 assert stdenv.isLinux;
 
-let version = "1.5.15"; in
+let
+  version = "1.5.15";
+  baseMakeFlags = ["V=1" "prefix=$out" "SHLIBDIR=$out/lib"];
+in
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "klibc-${version}";
@@ -12,15 +15,36 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sha256 = "1x401wmjca6zkyikf9xz45b3wb1hnj0m2s9in1sg6xdhi3pk8lwb";
   };
   
-  makeFlags = ["V=1" "prefix=$out" "SHLIBDIR=$out/lib"];
+  makeFlags = baseMakeFlags;
+
+  inherit linuxHeaders;
+
+  crossAttrs = {
+    name = "klibc-1.5.17";
+    src = fetchurl {
+      url = "mirror://kernel/linux/libs/klibc/Testing/klibc-1.5.17.tar.bz2";
+      sha256 = "1jmiszf9pdlzj9f72nkv50d7aqrzz12hrmw792xnd2lmn5nrfyx6";
+    };
+
+    makeFlags = baseMakeFlags ++ [ "CROSS_COMPILE=${stdenv.cross.config}-"
+        "KLIBCARCH=${stdenv.cross.arch}" ];
+
+    patchPhase = ''
+      sed -i /KLIBCKERNELSRC/d scripts/Kbuild.install
+    '';
+
+    linuxHeaders = linuxHeadersCross;
+  };
   
+  # The AEABI option concerns only arm systems, and does not affect the build for
+  # other systems.
   preBuild = ''
     sed -i /CONFIG_AEABI/d defconfig
     echo "CONFIG_AEABI=y" >> defconfig
     makeFlags=$(eval "echo $makeFlags")
 
     mkdir linux
-    cp -prsd ${linuxHeaders}/include linux/
+    cp -prsd $linuxHeaders/include linux/
     chmod -R u+w linux/include/
   ''; # */
   
@@ -32,5 +56,5 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     cp usr/dash/sh $dir/
   '';
   
-  buildInputs = [perl bison mktemp];
+  buildNativeInputs = [ perl bison mktemp ];
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/compression/bzip2/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/compression/bzip2/default.nix
index 0523067cbade..e8ac6c6418cb 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/compression/bzip2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/compression/bzip2/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sha256 = "08py2s9vw6dgw457lbklh1vsr3b8x8dlv7d8ygdfaxlx61l57gzp";
   };
 
+  crossAttrs = {
+    patchPhase = ''
+      sed -i -e 's/CC=gcc/CC=${stdenv.cross.config}-gcc/' \
+        -e 's/AR=ar/AR=${stdenv.cross.config}-ar/' \
+        -e 's/RANLIB=ranlib/RANLIB=${stdenv.cross.config}-ranlib/' \
+        -e 's/bzip2recover test/bzip2recover/' \
+        Makefile*
+    '';
+  };
+
   sharedLibrary =
     !stdenv.isDarwin && !(stdenv ? isDietLibC) && !(stdenv ? isStatic) && stdenv.system != "i686-cygwin" && !linkStatic;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/coreutils/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/coreutils/default.nix
index 431684829b5b..6f7c0923d99f 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/coreutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/coreutils/default.nix
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       ++ stdenv.lib.optional aclSupport acl.hostDrv
       ++ stdenv.lib.optional (stdenv.gccCross.libc ? libiconv)
         stdenv.gccCross.libc.libiconv.hostDrv;
+
+    # Needed for fstatfs()
+    # I don't know why it is not properly detected cross building with glibc.
+    configureFlags = [ "fu_cv_sys_stat_statfs2_bsize=yes" ];
   };
 
   # The tests are known broken on Cygwin
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/findutils/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/findutils/default.nix
index 2350ab260492..887f400b8c59 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/findutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/findutils/default.nix
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0f61phan4q8w5i1lz768q973c1spfqgvc470jc89rpg0gxfvi9bp";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [coreutils];
+  buildNativeInputs = [coreutils];
 
   patches = [ ./findutils-path.patch ./change_echo_path.patch ]
     # Note: the dietlibc patch is just to get findutils to compile.
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   doCheck = true;
 
+  crossAttrs = {
+    # http://osdir.com/ml/bug-findutils-gnu/2009-08/msg00026.html
+    configureFlags = [ "gl_cv_func_wcwidth_works=yes" ];
+  };
+
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/;
     description = "GNU Find Utilities, the basic directory searching utilities of the GNU operating system";
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/default.nix
index 44b7715607c8..d75485cf0473 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/default.nix
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   };
   
   /* If no explicit coreutils is given, use the one from stdenv. */
-  buildInputs = [coreutils];
+  buildNativeInputs = [coreutils];
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/diffutils.html;
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/gnupatch/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/text/gnupatch/default.nix
index cd2a67f69933..e6383f40a7c1 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/text/gnupatch/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/gnupatch/default.nix
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildInputs = (stdenv.lib.optional doCheck ed);
 
+  crossAttrs = {
+    configureFlags = [ "ac_cv_func_strnlen_working=yes" ];
+  };
+
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/replace/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/text/replace/default.nix
index 0182a3bb48df..339bf510c4b2 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/text/replace/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/replace/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   makeFlags = ["TREE=\$(out)"];
 
+  crossAttrs = {
+    makeFlags = [ "TREE=\$(out)" "CC=${stdenv.cross.config}-gcc" ];
+  };
+
   postInstall = "mv \$out/bin/replace \$out/bin/replace-literal";
 
   patches = [./malloc.patch];
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index bf09b758d2ec..c1f37aaca9aa 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -6143,7 +6143,7 @@ let
   };
 
   klibc = makeOverridable (import ../os-specific/linux/klibc) {
-    inherit fetchurl stdenv perl bison mktemp;
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv perl bison mktemp linuxHeadersCross;
     linuxHeaders = glibc.kernelHeaders;
   };