diff --git a/srcpkgs/slrn/template b/srcpkgs/slrn/template
index c8899264fb3..32deb0d3068 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/slrn/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/slrn/template
@@ -8,8 +8,7 @@ configure_args="--with-slrnpull --with-ssl
  --with-slanginc=${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/include
  --with-slanglib=${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/lib
  slrn_cv_va_copy=yes slrn_cv___va_copy=yes slrn_cv_va_val_copy=yes"
-hostmakedepends="openssl-devel slang-devel"
-makedepends="${hostmakedepends}"
+makedepends="openssl-devel slang-devel"
 short_desc="Text mode Usenet news reader"
 maintainer="Leah Neukirchen <leah@vuxu.org>"
 license="GPL-2.0-or-later"
@@ -18,10 +17,9 @@ homepage="https://slrn.info/"
 distfiles="https://ftp.icm.edu.pl/packages/slrn/slrn-${version}.tar.bz2"
 checksum=3ba8a4d549201640f2b82d53fb1bec1250f908052a7983f0061c983c634c2dac
 
-pre_build() {
-	mkdir -p src/objs
-	make CC="$BUILD_CC" CFLAGS="$BUILD_CFLAGS" LIBS= LDFLAGS= RPATH= INCS= \
-		-C src slangversion
+post_patch() {
+	# Rip out compile time test to allow cross building.
+	sed -i 's/ slangversion / /' src/Makefile.in
 }
 post_install() {
 	vsconf doc/slrn.rc