--- a/sys-libs/glibc/glibc-2.20.ebuild
+++ b/sys-libs/glibc/glibc-2.20.ebuild
@@ -138,6 +138,23 @@
 	eblit-run-maybe eblit-$1-post
 }
 
+pkg_pretend() {
+# ABI-specific checks, but run only if the right target+destination conditions are met.
+	if [[ ${CATEGORY} != cross-* ]]
+	then
+		# In a cross-compile situation we cannot (easily) probe the kernel that glibc will be running on.  Skip the check
+		use amd64 && use multilib && {
+			ebegin "Checking IA32 emulation is enabled"
+			echo 'int main(){return 0;}' > "${T}/check-ia32-emulation.c" 
+			"${CC-${CHOST}-gcc}" ${CFLAGS_x86} "${T}/check-ia32-emulation.c" -o "${T}/check-ia32-emulation.elf32" 
+			"${T}/check-ia32-emulation.elf32"
+			STAT=$? 
+			rm -f "${T}/check-ia32-emulation.elf32"
+			eend $STAT
+			[ $STAT -eq 0 ] || die "CONFIG_IA32_EMULATION must be enabled in the kernel to compile glibc"
+		}
+	fi
+}
 src_unpack()    { eblit-run src_unpack    ; }
 src_prepare()   { eblit-run src_prepare   ; }
 src_configure() { eblit-run src_configure ; }