diff --git a/changeforest-r/configure b/changeforest-r/configure
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5df740a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changeforest-r/configure
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+sed -e "s|@RUST_TARGET@|$(rustc -vV | grep host | cut -d' ' -f2)|" src/Makevars.in > src/Makevars
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changeforest-r/src/Makevars b/changeforest-r/src/Makevars.in
similarity index 80%
rename from changeforest-r/src/Makevars
rename to changeforest-r/src/Makevars.in
index b830542..0ed0ed5 100644
--- a/changeforest-r/src/Makevars
+++ b/changeforest-r/src/Makevars.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+TARGET ?= @RUST_TARGET@
 TARGET_DIR = ./rust/target
-LIBDIR = $(TARGET_DIR)/release
+LIBDIR = $(TARGET_DIR)/$(TARGET)/release
 STATLIB = $(LIBDIR)/libchangeforestr.a
 PKG_LIBS = -L$(LIBDIR) -lchangeforestr
 
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ $(STATLIB):
 		export CARGO_HOME=$(CARGOTMP); \
 	fi && \
 		export PATH="$(PATH):$(HOME)/.cargo/bin" && \
-		cargo build --lib --release --manifest-path=./rust/Cargo.toml --target-dir $(TARGET_DIR)
+		cargo build --target=$(TARGET) --lib --release --manifest-path=./rust/Cargo.toml --target-dir $(TARGET_DIR)
 	if [ "$(NOT_CRAN)" != "true" ]; then \
 		rm -Rf $(CARGOTMP) && \
 		rm -Rf $(LIBDIR)/build; \