diff --git a/configure b/configure
index c49710e..870dd9d 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -375,6 +375,7 @@ trycmd AR "ar"
 trycmd RANLIB "$RANLIB"
 trycmd RANLIB "ranlib"
 
+ENDIAN=0
 if test $has_skalibs -eq 1; then
     echo " => Checking sysdeps... $sysdeps"
     echon "  -> Checking target.."
@@ -386,12 +387,22 @@ if test $has_skalibs -eq 1; then
         *x86_64*) BITS=64 ;;
     esac
     echo ".. $target [${BITS}bit]"
-    if test ! -d $sysdeps || test ! -f $sysdeps/target; then
+    if test ! -d "$sysdeps" || test ! -f "$sysdeps/target"; then
         error 2 "$sysdeps is not a valid sysdeps directory"
     fi
-    if test "x$target" != "x$(cat $sysdeps/target)"; then
-        error 2 "target $target does not match the contents of $sysdeps/target ($(cat $sysdeps/target))"
+    if test "x$target" != "x$(cat "$sysdeps/target")"; then
+        error 2 "target $target does not match the contents of $sysdeps/target ($(cat "$sysdeps/target"))"
     fi
+
+    echon "  -> Checking endianness.."
+    case "$(grep ^endianness: "$sysdeps/sysdeps" | cut -d' ' -f2)" in
+        little) ENDIAN=LITTLE; echo ".. little" ;;
+        big)    ENDIAN=BIG; echo ".. big" ;;
+        pdp)    ENDIAN=PDP; echo ".. pdp" ;;
+        *)  echo ".. unsupported";
+            error 2 "unsupported endianness ($(grep ^endianness: "$sysdeps/sysdeps"))"
+            ;;
+    esac
 fi
 
 echo " => Testing C compiler..."
@@ -603,6 +614,11 @@ cat <<EOF
 #define ${prefix}_SHAREDIR  "$sharedir/$name"
 $CVARS
 
+#define ${prefix}_LITTLE    1234
+#define ${prefix}_BIG       4321
+#define ${prefix}_PDP       3412
+#define ${prefix}_ENDIAN    ${prefix}_$ENDIAN
+
 #endif /* ${prefix}_CONFIG_H */
 EOF