diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d9dde969d..9ae85bec4 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1291,17 +1291,6 @@ esac
 
 fi
 
-# host long bits test, actually a pointer size test
-cat > $TMPC << EOF
-int sizeof_pointer_is_8[sizeof(void *) == 8 ? 1 : -1];
-EOF
-if compile_object; then
-hostlongbits=64
-else
-hostlongbits=32
-fi
-
-
 ##########################################
 # NPTL probe
 
@@ -2988,7 +2977,6 @@ fi
 if test "$bigendian" = "yes" ; then
   echo "HOST_WORDS_BIGENDIAN=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
-echo "HOST_LONG_BITS=$hostlongbits" >> $config_host_mak
 if test "$mingw32" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_WIN32=y" >> $config_host_mak
   rc_version=`cat $source_path/VERSION`
diff --git a/qemu-common.h b/qemu-common.h
index c5e9cad35..dbfce6f4c 100644
--- a/qemu-common.h
+++ b/qemu-common.h
@@ -65,6 +65,15 @@ typedef struct Monitor Monitor;
 #define TIME_MAX LONG_MAX
 #endif
 
+/* HOST_LONG_BITS is the size of a native pointer in bits. */
+#if UINTPTR_MAX == UINT32_MAX
+# define HOST_LONG_BITS 32
+#elif UINTPTR_MAX == UINT64_MAX
+# define HOST_LONG_BITS 64
+#else
+# error Unknown pointer size
+#endif
+
 #ifndef CONFIG_IOVEC
 #define CONFIG_IOVEC
 struct iovec {