diff --git a/expat/acinclude.m4 b/expat/acinclude.m4
index 130cc3ae..be1d5037 100644
--- a/expat/acinclude.m4
+++ b/expat/acinclude.m4
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # acinclude.m4 --
 #
 
-m4_include(conftools/ac_c_bigendian_cross.m4)
 dnl m4_include(meta/autoconf/ax-check-compile-flag.m4)
 dnl m4_include(meta/autoconf/ax-gcc-version.m4)
 
diff --git a/expat/configure.ac b/expat/configure.ac
index ec0c05e8..33a6467b 100644
--- a/expat/configure.ac
+++ b/expat/configure.ac
@@ -102,9 +102,13 @@ AC_HEADER_STDC
 
 dnl Checks for typedefs, structures, and compiler characteristics.
 
-dnl Note: Avoid using AC_C_BIGENDIAN because it does not
-dnl work in a cross compile.
-AC_C_BIGENDIAN_CROSS
+dnl We define BYTEORDER to 1234 when the platform is little endian; it
+dnl defines it to 4321 when the platform is big endian.
+dnl
+dnl A long time ago (early 2000 years) AC_C_BIGENDIAN was considered wrong
+dnl when cross compiling, now (2018) we assume it is fine.
+AC_C_BIGENDIAN([BYTEORDER=4321],[BYTEORDER=1234])
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(BYTEORDER, $BYTEORDER, [1234 = LILENDIAN, 4321 = BIGENDIAN])
 
 AC_C_CONST
 AC_TYPE_SIZE_T
diff --git a/expat/conftools/ac_c_bigendian_cross.m4 b/expat/conftools/ac_c_bigendian_cross.m4
deleted file mode 100644
index 49ab6c45..00000000
--- a/expat/conftools/ac_c_bigendian_cross.m4
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,81 +0,0 @@
-dnl @synopsis AC_C_BIGENDIAN_CROSS
-dnl
-dnl Check endianness even when crosscompiling
-dnl (partially based on the original AC_C_BIGENDIAN).
-dnl
-dnl The implementation will create a binary, and instead of running
-dnl the binary it will be grep'ed for some symbols that will look
-dnl different for different endianness of the binary.
-dnl
-dnl @version $Id: ac_c_bigendian_cross.m4,v 1.1 2001/07/24 19:51:35 fdrake Exp $
-dnl @author Guido Draheim <guidod@gmx.de>
-dnl
-AC_DEFUN([AC_C_BIGENDIAN_CROSS],
-[AC_CACHE_CHECK(whether byte ordering is bigendian, ac_cv_c_bigendian,
-[ac_cv_c_bigendian=unknown
-# See if sys/param.h defines the BYTE_ORDER macro.
-AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <sys/types.h>
-#include <sys/param.h>], [
-#if !BYTE_ORDER || !BIG_ENDIAN || !LITTLE_ENDIAN
- bogus endian macros
-#endif], [# It does; now see whether it defined to BIG_ENDIAN or not.
-AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <sys/types.h>
-#include <sys/param.h>], [
-#if BYTE_ORDER != BIG_ENDIAN
- not big endian
-#endif], ac_cv_c_bigendian=yes, ac_cv_c_bigendian=no)])
-if test $ac_cv_c_bigendian = unknown; then
-AC_TRY_RUN([main () {
-  /* Are we little or big endian?  From Harbison&Steele.  */
-  union
-  {
-    long l;
-    char c[sizeof (long)];
-  } u;
-  u.l = 1;
-  exit (u.c[sizeof (long) - 1] == 1);
-}], ac_cv_c_bigendian=no, ac_cv_c_bigendian=yes,
-[ echo $ac_n "cross-compiling... " 2>&AC_FD_MSG ])
-fi])
-if test $ac_cv_c_bigendian = unknown; then
-AC_MSG_CHECKING(to probe for byte ordering)
-[
-cat >conftest.c <<EOF
-short ascii_mm[] = { 0x4249, 0x4765, 0x6E44, 0x6961, 0x6E53, 0x7953, 0 };
-short ascii_ii[] = { 0x694C, 0x5454, 0x656C, 0x6E45, 0x6944, 0x6E61, 0 };
-void _ascii() { char* s = (char*) ascii_mm; s = (char*) ascii_ii; }
-short ebcdic_ii[] = { 0x89D3, 0xE3E3, 0x8593, 0x95C5, 0x89C4, 0x9581, 0 };
-short ebcdic_mm[] = { 0xC2C9, 0xC785, 0x95C4, 0x8981, 0x95E2, 0xA8E2, 0 };
-void _ebcdic() { char* s = (char*) ebcdic_mm; s = (char*) ebcdic_ii; }
-int main() { _ascii (); _ebcdic (); return 0; }
-EOF
-] if test -f conftest.c ; then
-     if ${CC-cc} -c conftest.c -o conftest.o && test -f conftest.o ; then
-        if test `grep -l BIGenDianSyS conftest.o` ; then
-           echo $ac_n ' big endian probe OK, ' 1>&AC_FD_MSG
-           ac_cv_c_bigendian=yes
-        fi
-        if test `grep -l LiTTleEnDian conftest.o` ; then
-           echo $ac_n ' little endian probe OK, ' 1>&AC_FD_MSG
-           if test $ac_cv_c_bigendian = yes ; then
-            ac_cv_c_bigendian=unknown;
-           else
-            ac_cv_c_bigendian=no
-           fi
-        fi
-        echo $ac_n 'guessing bigendian ...  ' >&AC_FD_MSG
-     fi
-  fi
-AC_MSG_RESULT($ac_cv_c_bigendian)
-fi
-if test $ac_cv_c_bigendian = yes; then
-  AC_DEFINE(WORDS_BIGENDIAN, 1, [whether byteorder is bigendian])
-  BYTEORDER=4321
-else
-  BYTEORDER=1234
-fi
-AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(BYTEORDER, $BYTEORDER, [1234 = LIL_ENDIAN, 4321 = BIGENDIAN])
-if test $ac_cv_c_bigendian = unknown; then
-  AC_MSG_ERROR(unknown endianness - sorry, please pre-set ac_cv_c_bigendian)
-fi
-])