diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 00f4688e..d3ae0457 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@ AC_MSG_RESULT([$fuse_version])
 fi
 
 AC_CHECK_LIB([pthread], [pthread_create], [], AC_MSG_ERROR([*** pthread library (libpthread) not found]))
-AC_PATH_PROG(OBJCOPY, objcopy, ,)
 
 ##ext2/3##
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([extfs],
@@ -491,6 +490,14 @@ PKG_CHECK_VAR([bashcompletiondir], [bash-completion], [completionsdir], [],
     [bashcompletiondir="${sysconfdir}/bash_completion.d"])
 AC_SUBST(bashcompletiondir)
 
+##fail-mbr
+AC_CHECK_TOOL([OBJCOPY], [objcopy])
+AC_CHECK_TOOL([OBJDUMP], [objdump])
+AM_CONDITIONAL(X86, [case $host_cpu in
+    x86_64|i[0-9]86) true ;;
+    *) false ;;
+esac])
+
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([
 	Makefile
diff --git a/fail-mbr/Makefile.am b/fail-mbr/Makefile.am
index 3a8ab521..851990ed 100644
--- a/fail-mbr/Makefile.am
+++ b/fail-mbr/Makefile.am
@@ -6,5 +6,34 @@ clean-local:
 
 distclean-local: clean-local
 
-fail-mbr.bin:
-	sh $(srcdir)/compile-mbr.sh
+if X86
+fail-mbr.image: fail-mbr.S
+	$(CC) -c "$<" -o "$@"
+
+fail-mbr.bin: fail-mbr.image
+	$(OBJCOPY) -O binary --strip-unneeded -R .note -R .comment -R .note.gnu.build-id -R .note.gnu.property -R .reginfo -R .rel.dyn "$<" "$@"
+
+	## Check that this file is the same as the original fail-mbr:
+	@echo "Checking the file:"
+	$(OBJDUMP) -D -b binary -mi386 -Maddr16,data16 "$@" > f1.obj
+	$(OBJDUMP) -D -b binary -mi386 -Maddr16,data16 "$(srcdir)/$@.orig" > f2.obj
+
+	## The regular expression is used to reject lines which contain either:
+	## - the name of the file, "fail-mbr"
+	## - a line separator output by diff, "---"
+	## - the OP code "xor    %ax,%ax" which may begin by 0x31 or 0x33
+	## - a numerical offset output by diff, ^[a-f0-9]*$
+	@if diff f1.obj f2.obj | grep -qEv 'fail-mbr|---|xor    %ax,%ax|^[a-f0-9]*$$'; then \
+		echo "files $@ and $@.orig differ significantly:"; \
+		diff f1.obj f2.obj; \
+		exit 1; \
+	else \
+		echo "'$@.bin' and '$@.orig' have no significant differences."; \
+		rm f1.obj f2.obj; \
+		exit 0; \
+	fi
+else
+fail-mbr.bin: fail-mbr.bin.orig
+	@echo "The architecture is not x86, so the file '$@' is not compiled"
+	cp -vp "$<" "$@"
+endif
diff --git a/fail-mbr/compile-mbr.sh b/fail-mbr/compile-mbr.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 52069b7a..00000000
--- a/fail-mbr/compile-mbr.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,56 +0,0 @@
-
-srcdir="$(dirname "$0")"
-
-hostarch="$(dpkg-architecture -q DEB_BUILD_ARCH 2>/dev/null)" \
-|| hostarch="$(rpm --eval '%{_arch}' 2>/dev/null)" \
-|| hostarch="$(arch 2>/dev/null)" \
-|| hostarch=''
-
-case "${hostarch:-}" in
-'i386'|'i486'|'i586'|'i686'|'amd64'|'x86_64')
-
-    ############### compiles source file for x86 architectures ##################
-    # compile the file fail-mbr.bin
-    #echo -n "Compiling: fail-mbr.S -> fail-mbr.o -> "
-    #gcc -Wall -Werror -m32 -nostdlib -static -Wl,--relocatable -o fail-mbr.o fail-mbr.S
-
-    #echo -n "fail-mbr.image -> "
-    #gcc -Os -Wall -W -Wshadow -Wpointer-arith -Wmissing-prototypes -Wundef -Wstrict-prototypes -g -falign-jumps=1 -falign-loops=1 -falign-functions=1 -mno-mmx -mno-sse -mno-sse2 -mno-3dnow -fno-dwarf2-cfi-asm -fno-asynchronous-unwind-tables -m32 -fno-stack-protector -mno-stack-arg-probe -Werror -Wno-trampolines -DUSE_ASCII_FAILBACK=1 -DHAVE_UNIFONT_WIDTHSPEC=1  -mrtd -mregparm=3       -fno-builtin   -m32 -Wl,--build-id=none   -nostdlib -Wl,-N,-S -Wl,-N -Wl,-Ttext,0x7C00   -Wl,--no-dynamic-linker   -o fail-mbr.image fail-mbr.o
-
-    #echo "fail-mbr.bin [Done]. "
-    gcc -c "${srcdir}/"fail-mbr.S -o fail-mbr.image
-    objcopy  -O binary  --strip-unneeded -R .note -R .comment -R .note.gnu.build-id -R .note.gnu.property -R .reginfo -R .rel.dyn fail-mbr.image fail-mbr.bin
-
-    ######################### Checks the build #############################
-    # checks that this file does the same than the original fail-mbr
-    echo "Checking the file:"
-    objdump -D -b binary -mi386 -Maddr16,data16 fail-mbr.bin > f1.obj
-    objdump -D -b binary -mi386 -Maddr16,data16 "${srcdir}/"fail-mbr.bin.orig > f2.obj
-
-    ######################### Checks the build #############################
-    # the regular expression 'fail-mbr|---|xor    %ax,%ax|^[a-f0-9]*$' is used
-    # to reject lines which contain either:
-    # - the name of the file, "fail-mbr"
-    # - a line separator output by diff, "---"
-    # - the OP code "xor    %ax,%ax" which may begin by 0x31 or 0x33
-    # - a numerical offset output by diff, ^[a-f0-9]*$
-    report=$(diff f1.obj f2.obj | grep -Ev 'fail-mbr|---|xor    %ax,%ax|^[a-f0-9]*$')
-    if [ -n "$report" ]; then
-        echo "files fail-mbr.bin and fail-mbr.bin.orig differ significantly:"
-        diff f1.obj f2.obj
-        exit 1
-    else
-        echo "'fail-mbr.bin' and 'fail-mbr.bin.orig' have no significant differences."
-        rm f1.obj f2.obj
-        exit 0
-    fi
-
-   ;;
-
-*)
-
-    echo "The architecture is not x86, so the file 'fail-mbr.bin' is not compiled"
-    echo "Copying 'fail-mbr.bin.orig' to 'fail-mbr.bin'"
-    cp -p "${srcdir}/"fail-mbr.bin.orig fail-mbr.bin
-
-esac