diff --git a/modules/cryptsetup b/modules/cryptsetup
index 8d487a1ea..dd4015e31 100644
--- a/modules/cryptsetup
+++ b/modules/cryptsetup
@@ -12,11 +12,14 @@ cryptsetup_configure := ./configure \
 	CC="$(heads_cc)" \
 	CFLAGS="-I$(INSTALL)/include" \
 	LDFLAGS="-L$(INSTALL)/lib" \
+	--host i386-elf-linux \
 	--prefix "$(INSTALL)" \
 	--disable-gcrypt-pbkdf2 \
 	--with-crypto_backend=kernel \
 
-cryptsetup_target := -j 8 install
+cryptsetup_target := \
+	-j 8 \
+	install
 
 cryptsetup_output := \
 	src/.libs/cryptsetup \
diff --git a/modules/gpg b/modules/gpg
index 04a1d1add..6ca97e61e 100644
--- a/modules/gpg
+++ b/modules/gpg
@@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ gpg_hash := 6b47a3100c857dcab3c60e6152e56a997f2c7862c1b8b2b25adf3884a1ae2276
 
 gpg_configure := ./configure \
 	CC="$(heads_cc)" \
-	CFLAGS="-I$(INSTALL)/include" \
-	LDFLAGS="-L$(INSTALL)/lib" \
+	--host i386-elf-linux \
 	--prefix $(INSTALL) \
 	--disable-bzip2 \
 	--disable-gpg \
 	--disable-gpgsm \
+	--disable-asm \
 	--disable-agent \
 	--disable-scdaemon \
 	--disable-tools \
diff --git a/modules/kexec b/modules/kexec
index 59de2b9da..759be1e4f 100644
--- a/modules/kexec
+++ b/modules/kexec
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ kexec_configure := ./configure \
 	CC="$(heads_cc)" \
 	CFLAGS="-I$(INSTALL)/include" \
 	LDFLAGS="-L$(INSTALL)/lib" \
+	--host i386-elf-linux \
 	--prefix="$(INSTALL)" \
 	--without-zlib \
 	--without-lzma \
diff --git a/modules/libuuid b/modules/libuuid
index c31677402..5ab2c3a88 100644
--- a/modules/libuuid
+++ b/modules/libuuid
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ libuuid_hash := 46af3275291091009ad7f1b899de3d0cea0252737550e7919d17237997db5644
 libuuid_configure := ./configure \
 	CC="$(heads_cc)" \
 	--prefix $(INSTALL) \
+	--host i386-elf-linux \
 
 libuuid_target := install
 
diff --git a/modules/lvm2 b/modules/lvm2
index dee0903b4..2b1730c6d 100644
--- a/modules/lvm2
+++ b/modules/lvm2
@@ -6,14 +6,23 @@ lvm2_tar := LVM2.$(lvm2_version).tgz
 lvm2_url := http://mirrors.kernel.org/sourceware/lvm2/$(lvm2_tar)
 lvm2_hash := 23a3d1cddd41b3ef51812ebf83e9fa491f502fe74130d4263be327a91914660d
 
-lvm2_configure := ./configure \
+# cross compiling test assumes malloc/realloc aren't glibc compat
+# so we force it via the configure cache.
+lvm2_configure := \
 	CC="$(heads_cc)" \
+	ac_cv_func_malloc_0_nonnull=yes \
+	ac_cv_func_realloc_0_nonnull=yes \
+	./configure \
+	--host i386-elf-linux \
 	--prefix $(INSTALL) \
 	--disable-selinux \
 	--disable-udev-systemd-background-jobs \
 	--disable-realtime \
+	--with-cluster=none \
 
-lvm2_target := -j 8 install_device-mapper
+# not sure why LIB_SUFFIX is not defined in the cross build
+lvm2_target := \
+	install_device-mapper \
 
 #lvm2_libraries := libdm/libdevmapper.so
 
diff --git a/modules/musl b/modules/musl
index b97fa0c27..a437581b4 100644
--- a/modules/musl
+++ b/modules/musl
@@ -9,12 +9,11 @@ musl_hash := 97e447c7ee2a7f613186ec54a93054fe15469fe34d7d323080f7ef38f5ecb0fa
 musl_output := $(INSTALL)/bin/musl-gcc
 
 #
-# Note that for syslibdir to be /lib the install will likely fail.
-# this is unfortunate, but can be worked around by making sure that
-# a /lib/ld-musl-x86_64.so.1 symlink exists and points to libc.so
-# for your musl build.
+# Note that for syslibdir to be /lib the install will fail.
+# this is unfortunate since it prevents the binaries from running
+# and requires that we treat the rest of the build as a cross compile.
 #
-# Otherwise we'll have to make a whole cross compiler setup.
+# That works, with some hacks...
 #
 musl_configure := ./configure \
 	--prefix="$(INSTALL)" \
diff --git a/modules/popt b/modules/popt
index 92cb35b1f..a8468eb39 100644
--- a/modules/popt
+++ b/modules/popt
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ popt_hash := e728ed296fe9f069a0e005003c3d6b2dde3d9cad453422a10d6558616d304cc8
 popt_configure := ./configure \
 	CC="$(heads_cc)" \
 	--prefix $(INSTALL) \
+	--host i386-elf-linux \
 
 popt_target := install
 
diff --git a/modules/qrencode b/modules/qrencode
index 8bd9e1084..8f0ab135c 100644
--- a/modules/qrencode
+++ b/modules/qrencode
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ qrencode_configure := ./configure \
 	CC="$(heads_cc)" \
 	--prefix $(INSTALL) \
 	--without-tools \
+	--host i386-elf-linux \
 
 qrencode_target := install
 
diff --git a/modules/tpmtotp b/modules/tpmtotp
index 39158289d..118bfee73 100644
--- a/modules/tpmtotp
+++ b/modules/tpmtotp
@@ -11,7 +11,10 @@ tpmtotp_dir := tpmtotp-$(tpmtotp_version)
 #tpmtotp_url := https://github.com/osresearch/tpmtotp/archive/v0.0.1.tar.gz
 #tpmtotp_hash := 8bf2380248fea540a96ad0ff8a4f170b8d93b6bb5fe49b958f9f1926f994823f
 
-tpmtotp_target := CC="$(heads_cc)"
+tpmtotp_target := \
+	CC="$(heads_cc)"  \
+	CFLAGS="-I$(INSTALL)/include" \
+	LDFLAGS="-L$(INSTALL)/lib" \
 
 tpmtotp_output := \
 	totp \