diff --git a/cross/pkgs/newlib.sh b/cross/pkgs/newlib.sh
index 167488b..8e3a4b7 100755
--- a/cross/pkgs/newlib.sh
+++ b/cross/pkgs/newlib.sh
@@ -50,6 +50,15 @@ if [ "$NEWLIB_OPTIMIZATION" = "" ]; then
 	NEWLIB_OPTIMIZATION=2
 fi
 
+if [ "$TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR" != "" ]; then
+	# something weird happens on Travis-CI so that newlib requires
+	# explicit set of the HOST compiler or it will use the
+	# Jehanne cross compiler and try to run the executable on linux
+	#
+	# I can't understand why...
+	export CC=gcc
+fi
+export CC=gcc
 # NOTE: we use -O0 because apparently vsprintf functions do not
 #       work with -O2.
 export CFLAGS_FOR_TARGET="-g -gdwarf-2 -ggdb -O$NEWLIB_OPTIMIZATION"