diff --git a/Makefile.target b/Makefile.target
index 191d979332..debe0e4c82 100644
--- a/Makefile.target
+++ b/Makefile.target
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ ifdef CONFIG_LINUX_USER
 VPATH+=:$(SRC_PATH)/linux-user:$(SRC_PATH)/linux-user/$(TARGET_ABI_DIR)
 QEMU_CFLAGS+=-I$(SRC_PATH)/linux-user -I$(SRC_PATH)/linux-user/$(TARGET_ABI_DIR)
 obj-y = main.o syscall.o strace.o mmap.o signal.o thunk.o \
-      elfload.o linuxload.o uaccess.o gdbstub.o gdbstub-xml.o
+      elfload.o linuxload.o uaccess.o gdbstub.o
 
 obj-$(TARGET_HAS_BFLT) += flatload.o
 obj-$(TARGET_HAS_ELFLOAD32) += elfload32.o
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ LDFLAGS+=-Wl,-segaddr,__STD_PROG_ZONE,0x1000 -image_base 0x0e000000
 LIBS+=-lmx
 
 obj-y = main.o commpage.o machload.o mmap.o signal.o syscall.o thunk.o \
-        gdbstub.o gdbstub-xml.o
+        gdbstub.o
 
 obj-i386-y += ioport-user.o
 
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ VPATH+=:$(SRC_PATH)/bsd-user
 QEMU_CFLAGS+=-I$(SRC_PATH)/bsd-user -I$(SRC_PATH)/bsd-user/$(TARGET_ARCH)
 
 obj-y = main.o bsdload.o elfload.o mmap.o signal.o strace.o syscall.o \
-        gdbstub.o gdbstub-xml.o uaccess.o
+        gdbstub.o uaccess.o
 
 obj-i386-y += ioport-user.o
 
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ endif #CONFIG_BSD_USER
 ifdef CONFIG_SOFTMMU
 
 obj-y = vl.o monitor.o pci.o isa_mmio.o machine.o \
-        gdbstub.o gdbstub-xml.o
+        gdbstub.o
 # virtio has to be here due to weird dependency between PCI and virtio-net.
 # need to fix this properly
 obj-y += virtio-blk.o virtio-balloon.o virtio-net.o virtio-console.o virtio-pci.o
@@ -306,16 +306,14 @@ ARLIBS=../libqemu_common.a libqemu.a $(HWLIB)
 
 endif # CONFIG_SOFTMMU
 
+obj-$(CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML) += gdbstub-xml.o
+
 $(QEMU_PROG): $(obj-y) $(obj-$(TARGET_BASE_ARCH)-y) $(ARLIBS)
 	$(call LINK,$(obj-y) $(obj-$(TARGET_BASE_ARCH)-y))
 
 
 gdbstub-xml.c: $(TARGET_XML_FILES) feature_to_c.sh
-ifeq ($(TARGET_XML_FILES),)
-	$(call quiet-command,rm -f $@ && echo > $@,"  GEN   $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
-else
 	$(call quiet-command,rm -f $@ && $(SHELL) $(SRC_PATH)/feature_to_c.sh $@ $(TARGET_XML_FILES),"  GEN   $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
-endif
 
 qemu-options.h: $(SRC_PATH)/qemu-options.hx
 	$(call quiet-command,sh $(SRC_PATH)/hxtool -h < $< > $@,"  GEN   $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 0cb4326559..5c09c0534e 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2302,8 +2302,8 @@ if test ! -z "$gdb_xml_files" ; then
   for x in $gdb_xml_files; do
     list="$list $source_path/gdb-xml/$x"
   done
+  echo "TARGET_XML_FILES=$list" >> $config_target_mak
 fi
-echo "TARGET_XML_FILES=$list" >> $config_target_mak
 
 case "$target_arch2" in
   arm|armeb|m68k|microblaze|mips|mipsel|mipsn32|mipsn32el|mips64|mips64el|ppc|ppc64|ppc64abi32|ppcemb|sparc|sparc64|sparc32plus)
diff --git a/default-configs/arm-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/arm-linux-user.mak
index 413361a022..46d4aa2d71 100644
--- a/default-configs/arm-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/arm-linux-user.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for arm-linux-user
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/arm-softmmu.mak b/default-configs/arm-softmmu.mak
index 372a549722..2786138b27 100644
--- a/default-configs/arm-softmmu.mak
+++ b/default-configs/arm-softmmu.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for arm-softmmu
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/armeb-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/armeb-linux-user.mak
index bf2ffe7038..41d0cc4926 100644
--- a/default-configs/armeb-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/armeb-linux-user.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for armeb-linux-user
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/m68k-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/m68k-linux-user.mak
index 06cd5ed7ed..f3487aa3d9 100644
--- a/default-configs/m68k-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/m68k-linux-user.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for m68k-linux-user
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/m68k-softmmu.mak b/default-configs/m68k-softmmu.mak
index 572b8684b0..0faeb2cc7a 100644
--- a/default-configs/m68k-softmmu.mak
+++ b/default-configs/m68k-softmmu.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for m68k-softmmu
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/ppc-darwin-user.mak b/default-configs/ppc-darwin-user.mak
index 117f17638c..153ed12876 100644
--- a/default-configs/ppc-darwin-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/ppc-darwin-user.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for ppc-darwin-user
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/ppc-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/ppc-linux-user.mak
index 6273df2930..681a94598e 100644
--- a/default-configs/ppc-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/ppc-linux-user.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for ppc-linux-user
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/ppc-softmmu.mak b/default-configs/ppc-softmmu.mak
index ba80ba24c1..d28171b6cb 100644
--- a/default-configs/ppc-softmmu.mak
+++ b/default-configs/ppc-softmmu.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for ppc-softmmu
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/ppc64-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/ppc64-linux-user.mak
index 422d3fbaeb..089c08f3a0 100644
--- a/default-configs/ppc64-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/ppc64-linux-user.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for ppc64-linux-user
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/ppc64-softmmu.mak b/default-configs/ppc64-softmmu.mak
index 0b72c70ae4..fe66524222 100644
--- a/default-configs/ppc64-softmmu.mak
+++ b/default-configs/ppc64-softmmu.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for ppc64-softmmu
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/ppc64abi32-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/ppc64abi32-linux-user.mak
index 1c657ec9bb..f038ffd97c 100644
--- a/default-configs/ppc64abi32-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/ppc64abi32-linux-user.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for ppc64abi32-linux-user
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y
diff --git a/default-configs/ppcemb-softmmu.mak b/default-configs/ppcemb-softmmu.mak
index 951bfa0403..bff13e605b 100644
--- a/default-configs/ppcemb-softmmu.mak
+++ b/default-configs/ppcemb-softmmu.mak
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration for ppcemb-softmmu
+
+CONFIG_GDBSTUB_XML=y