diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 0128fd3..21ab9a6 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -334,30 +334,30 @@
 }
 
 if check_define __linux__ ; then
-  targetos=linux
+  host_os=linux
 elif check_define _WIN32 ; then
-  targetos=windows
+  host_os=windows
 elif check_define __OpenBSD__ ; then
-  targetos=openbsd
+  host_os=openbsd
 elif check_define __sun__ ; then
-  targetos=sunos
+  host_os=sunos
 elif check_define __HAIKU__ ; then
-  targetos=haiku
+  host_os=haiku
 elif check_define __FreeBSD__ ; then
-  targetos=freebsd
+  host_os=freebsd
 elif check_define __FreeBSD_kernel__ && check_define __GLIBC__; then
-  targetos=gnu/kfreebsd
+  host_os=gnu/kfreebsd
 elif check_define __DragonFly__ ; then
-  targetos=dragonfly
+  host_os=dragonfly
 elif check_define __NetBSD__; then
-  targetos=netbsd
+  host_os=netbsd
 elif check_define __APPLE__; then
-  targetos=darwin
+  host_os=darwin
 else
   # This is a fatal error, but don't report it yet, because we
   # might be going to just print the --help text, or it might
   # be the result of a missing compiler.
-  targetos=bogus
+  host_os=bogus
 fi
 
 if test ! -z "$cpu" ; then
@@ -573,13 +573,13 @@
     fi
 done
 
-if test "$targetos" = "windows" ; then
+if test "$host_os" = "windows" ; then
   EXESUF=".exe"
 fi
 
 meson_option_build_array() {
   printf '['
-  (if test "$targetos" = windows; then
+  (if test "$host_os" = windows; then
     IFS=\;
   else
     IFS=:
@@ -802,7 +802,7 @@
 
 if [ -n "$host_arch" ] && [ -d "$source_path/common-user/host/$host_arch" ]; then
     if [ "$linux_user" != no ]; then
-        if [ "$targetos" = linux ]; then
+        if [ "$host_os" = linux ]; then
             linux_user=yes
         elif [ "$linux_user" = yes ]; then
             error_exit "linux-user not supported on this architecture"
@@ -813,9 +813,9 @@
     fi
     if [ "$bsd_user" != no ]; then
         if [ "$bsd_user" = "" ]; then
-            test $targetos = freebsd && bsd_user=yes
+            test $host_os = freebsd && bsd_user=yes
         fi
-        if [ "$bsd_user" = yes ] && ! [ -d "$source_path/bsd-user/$targetos" ]; then
+        if [ "$bsd_user" = yes ] && ! [ -d "$source_path/bsd-user/$host_os" ]; then
             error_exit "bsd-user not supported on this host OS"
         fi
         if [ "$bsd_user" = "yes" ]; then
@@ -998,7 +998,7 @@
     fi
 fi
 
-if test "$targetos" = "bogus"; then
+if test "$host_os" = "bogus"; then
     # Now that we know that we're not printing the help and that
     # the compiler works (so the results of the check_defines we used
     # to identify the OS are reliable), if we didn't recognize the
@@ -1007,7 +1007,7 @@
 fi
 
 # test for any invalid configuration combinations
-if test "$targetos" = "windows" && ! has "$dlltool"; then
+if test "$host_os" = "windows" && ! has "$dlltool"; then
   if test "$plugins" = "yes"; then
     error_exit "TCG plugins requires dlltool to build on Windows platforms"
   fi
@@ -1041,7 +1041,7 @@
 int main(void) { return tls_var; }
 EOF
 
-if test "$targetos" = windows || test "$targetos" = haiku; then
+if test "$host_os" = windows || test "$host_os" = haiku; then
   if test "$pie" = "yes"; then
     error_exit "PIE not available due to missing OS support"
   fi
@@ -1541,8 +1541,8 @@
 
 # Mac OS X ships with a broken assembler
 if have_target i386-softmmu x86_64-softmmu && \
-        test "$targetos" != "darwin" && test "$targetos" != "sunos" && \
-        test "$targetos" != "haiku" && \
+        test "$host_os" != "darwin" && test "$host_os" != "sunos" && \
+        test "$host_os" != "haiku" && \
         probe_target_compiler i386-softmmu; then
     subdirs="$subdirs pc-bios/optionrom"
     config_mak=pc-bios/optionrom/config.mak
@@ -1606,7 +1606,7 @@
 echo "EXESUF=$EXESUF" >> $config_host_mak
 
 # use included Linux headers for KVM architectures
-if test "$targetos" = "linux" && test -n "$linux_arch"; then
+if test "$host_os" = "linux" && test -n "$linux_arch"; then
   symlink "$source_path/linux-headers/asm-$linux_arch" linux-headers/asm
 fi
 
@@ -1629,13 +1629,13 @@
 echo "PKG_CONFIG=${pkg_config}" >> contrib/plugins/$config_host_mak
 echo "CC=$cc $CPU_CFLAGS" >> contrib/plugins/$config_host_mak
 echo "CFLAGS=${CFLAGS-$default_cflags} $EXTRA_CFLAGS" >> contrib/plugins/$config_host_mak
-if test "$targetos" = windows; then
+if test "$host_os" = windows; then
   echo "DLLTOOL=$dlltool" >> contrib/plugins/$config_host_mak
 fi
-if test "$targetos" = darwin; then
+if test "$host_os" = darwin; then
   echo "CONFIG_DARWIN=y" >> contrib/plugins/$config_host_mak
 fi
-if test "$targetos" = windows; then
+if test "$host_os" = windows; then
   echo "CONFIG_WIN32=y" >> contrib/plugins/$config_host_mak
 fi
 
@@ -1715,7 +1715,7 @@
   echo "# environment defaults, can still be overridden on " >> $cross
   echo "# the command line" >> $cross
   if test -e "$source_path/.git" && \
-      { test "$targetos" = linux || test "$targetos" = "windows"; }; then
+      { test "$host_os" = linux || test "$host_os" = "windows"; }; then
       echo 'werror = true' >> $cross
   fi
   echo "[project options]" >> $cross
@@ -1752,7 +1752,7 @@
   echo "windmc = [$(meson_quote $windmc)]" >> $cross
   if test "$cross_compile" = "yes"; then
     echo "[host_machine]" >> $cross
-    echo "system = '$targetos'" >> $cross
+    echo "system = '$host_os'" >> $cross
     case "$cpu" in
         i386)
             echo "cpu_family = 'x86'" >> $cross
@@ -1778,8 +1778,8 @@
   fi
   mv $cross config-meson.cross
   meson_add_machine_file config-meson.cross
-  if test -f "$source_path/configs/meson/$targetos.txt"; then
-    meson_add_machine_file $source_path/configs/meson/$targetos.txt
+  if test -f "$source_path/configs/meson/$host_os.txt"; then
+    meson_add_machine_file $source_path/configs/meson/$host_os.txt
   fi
 
   rm -rf meson-private meson-info meson-logs