diff --git a/xbps-src/shutils/buildvars_funcs.sh b/xbps-src/shutils/buildvars_funcs.sh
index 78c2e0af1f8..72e6023dd47 100644
--- a/xbps-src/shutils/buildvars_funcs.sh
+++ b/xbps-src/shutils/buildvars_funcs.sh
@@ -49,21 +49,21 @@ set_build_vars()
 		export PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR="$PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR"
 		export PKG_CONFIG="$PKG_CONFIG"
 	else
+		PKG_CONFIG="/usr/bin/pkg-config"
 		PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR="/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
 	fi
 	CFLAGS="$CFLAGS $XBPS_CFLAGS"
 	CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $XBPS_CXXFLAGS"
 
-	export PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR="$PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR" \
+	export PKG_CONFIG="$PKG_CONFIG" PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR="$PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR" \
 		CFLAGS="$CFLAGS" CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
 }
 
 unset_build_vars()
 {
 	if [ -z "$in_chroot" ]; then
-		unset LDFLAGS CPPFLAGS
-		unset PKG_CONFIG LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+		unset LDFLAGS CPPFLAGS LD_LIBRARY_PATH
 		export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$SAVE_LDLIBPATH
 	fi
-	unset PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR CFLAGS CXXFLAGS
+	unset PKG_CONFIG PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR CFLAGS CXXFLAGS
 }