diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 53f5a70bc5c6..41821aa6c947 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -560,9 +560,30 @@ endif
 CC_VERSION_TEXT = $(shell $(CC) --version 2>/dev/null | head -n 1 | sed 's/\#//g')
 
 ifneq ($(findstring clang,$(CC_VERSION_TEXT)),)
-ifneq ($(CROSS_COMPILE),)
+# Individual arch/{arch}/Makefiles should use -EL/-EB to set intended
+# endianness and -m32/-m64 to set word size based on Kconfigs instead of
+# relying on the target triple.
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_arm		:= arm-linux-gnueabi
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_arm64	:= aarch64-linux-gnu
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_hexagon	:= hexagon-linux-musl
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_m68k		:= m68k-linux-gnu
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_mips		:= mipsel-linux-gnu
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_powerpc	:= powerpc64le-linux-gnu
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_riscv	:= riscv64-linux-gnu
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_s390		:= s390x-linux-gnu
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_x86		:= x86_64-linux-gnu
+CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS		:= $(CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS_$(SRCARCH))
+
+ifeq ($(CROSS_COMPILE),)
+ifeq ($(CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS),)
+$(error Specify CROSS_COMPILE or add '--target=' option to Makefile)
+else
+CLANG_FLAGS	+= --target=$(CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS)
+endif # CLANG_TARGET_FLAGS
+else
 CLANG_FLAGS	+= --target=$(notdir $(CROSS_COMPILE:%-=%))
-endif
+endif # CROSS_COMPILE
+
 ifneq ($(LLVM_IAS),1)
 CLANG_FLAGS	+= -no-integrated-as
 GCC_TOOLCHAIN_DIR := $(dir $(shell which $(CROSS_COMPILE)elfedit))