diff --git a/ndk/build/check-awk.awk b/ndk/build/check-awk.awk
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1e0931715
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ndk/build/check-awk.awk
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# This script is used to check that a given awk executable
+# implements the match() and substr() functions appropriately.
+#
+# These were introduced in nawk/gawk, but the original awk
+# does not have them.
+#
+END {
+    RSTART=0
+    RLENGTH=0
+    s1="A real world example"
+    if (! match(s1,"world")) {
+        print "Fail match"
+    } else if (RSTART != 8) {
+        print "Fail RSTART ="RSTART
+    } else if (RLENGTH != 5) {
+        print "Fail RLENGTH ="RLENGTH
+    } else {
+        s2=substr(s1,RSTART,RLENGTH)
+        if (s2 != "world") {
+            print "Fail substr="s2
+        } else {
+            print "Pass"
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/ndk/build/host-setup.sh b/ndk/build/host-setup.sh
index a8c940c5a..6ee08da31 100755
--- a/ndk/build/host-setup.sh
+++ b/ndk/build/host-setup.sh
@@ -100,8 +100,32 @@ check_gnu_make_version ()
     GNU_MAKE_VERSION=$version
 }
 
+# check that $1 points to an awk executable that has a working
+# match() function. This really means Nawk or GNU Awk, which should
+# be installed on all modern distributions, but hey, you never know...
+check_awk ()
+{
+    if [ -n "$AWK" ] ; then
+        return
+    fi
+    log2 "  looking for nawk/gawk as '$1'"
+    local executable=`which $1`
+    if [ -z "$executable" ] ; then
+        log2 "    Not available."
+        return
+    fi
+    local result
+    result=`echo "" | $executable -f build/check-awk.awk`
+    if [ "$result" == "Pass" ] ; then
+        AWK="$1"
+    fi
+    log2 "    Check $result"
+}
+
 OPTION_HELP=no
 OPTION_NO_MAKE_CHECK=no
+OPTION_NO_AWK_CHECK=no
+
 for opt do
   optarg=`expr "x$opt" : 'x[^=]*=\(.*\)'`
   case "$opt" in
@@ -109,6 +133,8 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --no-make-check) OPTION_NO_MAKE_CHECK=yes
   ;;
+  --no-awk-check) OPTION_NO_AWK_CHECK=yes
+  ;;
   --verbose)
     if [ "$VERBOSE" = "yes" ] ; then
         VERBOSE2=yes
@@ -133,6 +159,7 @@ if [ $OPTION_HELP = yes ] ; then
     echo "  --help            Print this help message"
     echo "  --verbose         Enable verbose mode"
     echo "  --no-make-check   Ignore GNU Make version check"
+    echo "  --no-awk-check    Ignore Nawk/Gawk check"
     echo ""
     exit 1
 fi
@@ -158,6 +185,25 @@ else
     echo "GNU Make   : Check ignored through user option."
 fi
 
+## Check for nawk or gawk, straight awk doesn't have the 'match'
+## function we need in the build system.
+##
+if [ "$OPTION_NO_AWK_CHECK" = "no" ] ; then
+    AWK=
+    check_awk awk
+    check_awk gawk
+    check_awk nawk
+    if [ -z "$AWK" ] ; then
+        echo "ERROR: Could not find a valid Nawk or Gawk executable."
+        echo "       Please ensure that either one of them is installed."
+        echo "       Use the --no-awk-check option to ignore this message."
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    echo "Awk        : $AWK"
+else
+    echo "Awk        : Check ignored through user option."
+fi
+
 ## Check the host platform tag that will be used to locate prebuilt
 ## toolchain binaries. And create configuration file.
 ##
@@ -168,6 +214,7 @@ create_config_mk
 add_config "HOST_OS       := $HOST_OS"
 add_config "HOST_ARCH     := $HOST_ARCH"
 add_config "HOST_TAG      := $HOST_TAG"
+add_config "HOST_AWK      := $AWK"
 
 ## Check that the toolchains we need are installed
 ## Otherwise, instruct the user to download them from the web site