diff --git a/config/functions b/config/functions
index 9ddf319095..a03dbb490b 100644
--- a/config/functions
+++ b/config/functions
@@ -492,8 +492,18 @@ setup_toolchain() {
     host:*|bootstrap:*)
       export DESTIMAGE="host"
       export AWK="gawk"
-      export CC="$TOOLCHAIN/bin/host-gcc"
-      export CXX="$TOOLCHAIN/bin/host-g++"
+      if [ "$1" = "host" ] && flag_enabled "local-cc" "no"; then
+        export CC="${LOCAL_CC}"
+        export CXX="${LOCAL_CXX}"
+        if [ -n "${LOCAL_CCACHE}" ]; then
+          export CCACHE_DIR="${LOCAL_CCACHE_DIR}"
+          export CC="${LOCAL_CCACHE} ${CC}";
+          export CXX="${LOCAL_CCACHE} ${CXX}";
+        fi
+      else
+        export CC="$TOOLCHAIN/bin/host-gcc"
+        export CXX="$TOOLCHAIN/bin/host-g++"
+      fi
       export CPP="cpp"
       export LD="ld"
       export AS="as"
diff --git a/config/path b/config/path
index 2b0be6cead..28a5bbf88c 100644
--- a/config/path
+++ b/config/path
@@ -70,6 +70,14 @@ if [ -z "$CCACHE_DIR" ]; then
   export CCACHE_DIR=$BUILD/.ccache
 fi
 
+# keep a copy of ccache dir used for toolchain ccache
+export BUILD_CCACHE_DIR="${CCACHE_DIR}"
+
+# local ccache dir in case we build early packages with local ccache
+if [ -z "${LOCAL_CCACHE_DIR}" ]; then
+  export LOCAL_CCACHE_DIR="${BUILD}/.ccache-local"
+fi
+
 if [[ -z "$PATH" || ( "$PATH" != "$TOOLCHAIN/bin:$TOOLCHAIN/sbin" && "$PATH" = "${PATH#$TOOLCHAIN/bin:$TOOLCHAIN/sbin:}" ) ]]; then
   export PATH="$TOOLCHAIN/bin:$TOOLCHAIN/sbin${PATH:+":$PATH"}"
 fi
diff --git a/packages/devel/ccache/package.mk b/packages/devel/ccache/package.mk
index 7ed5c185ec..aedeed3b1f 100644
--- a/packages/devel/ccache/package.mk
+++ b/packages/devel/ccache/package.mk
@@ -10,30 +10,26 @@ PKG_SITE="https://ccache.dev/download.html"
 PKG_URL="https://github.com/ccache/ccache/releases/download/v${PKG_VERSION}/${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}.tar.xz"
 PKG_DEPENDS_HOST="make:host"
 PKG_LONGDESC="A compiler cache to speed up re-compilation of C/C++ code by caching."
+PKG_BUILD_FLAGS="+local-cc"
 
 PKG_CONFIGURE_OPTS_HOST="--with-bundled-zlib"
 
-pre_configure_host() {
-  export CC=${LOCAL_CC}
-  export CXX=${LOCAL_CXX}
-}
-
 post_makeinstall_host() {
 # setup ccache
   if [ -z "${CCACHE_DISABLE}" ]; then
-    ${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/ccache --max-size=${CCACHE_CACHE_SIZE}
+    CCACHE_DIR="${BUILD_CCACHE_DIR}" ${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/ccache --max-size=${CCACHE_CACHE_SIZE}
   fi
 
   cat > ${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/host-gcc <<EOF
 #!/bin/sh
-${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/ccache ${CC} "\$@"
+${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/ccache ${LOCAL_CC} "\$@"
 EOF
 
   chmod +x ${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/host-gcc
 
   cat > ${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/host-g++ <<EOF
 #!/bin/sh
-${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/ccache ${CXX} "\$@"
+${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/ccache ${LOCAL_CXX} "\$@"
 EOF
 
   chmod +x ${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/host-g++
diff --git a/packages/devel/make/package.mk b/packages/devel/make/package.mk
index 18cee105fc..2c1732f621 100644
--- a/packages/devel/make/package.mk
+++ b/packages/devel/make/package.mk
@@ -10,10 +10,7 @@ PKG_SITE="https://www.gnu.org/software/make/"
 PKG_URL="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/make/${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}.tar.gz"
 PKG_DEPENDS_HOST=""
 PKG_LONGDESC="Utility to maintain groups of programs."
-
-pre_configure_host() {
-  export CC=${LOCAL_CC}
-}
+PKG_BUILD_FLAGS="+local-cc"
 
 post_makeinstall_host() {
   ln -sf make ${TOOLCHAIN}/bin/gmake
diff --git a/packages/readme.md b/packages/readme.md
index 7c4f4984bc..45318ca522 100644
--- a/packages/readme.md
+++ b/packages/readme.md
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ Set the variable `PKG_BUILD_FLAGS` in the `package.mk` to enable/disable the sin
 | parallel | enabled  | all | `make` or `ninja` builds with multiple threads/processes (or not) |
 | strip    | enabled  | target | strips executables (or not) |
 | sysroot  | enabled  | target | installs the package to the sysroot folder (or not) |
+| local-cc | disabled | host | use compiler from buildhost instead of host-gcc/g++ in toolchain |
 
 ###### Example
 ```
diff --git a/scripts/build b/scripts/build
index 23243a6aca..7c961ee548 100755
--- a/scripts/build
+++ b/scripts/build
@@ -238,6 +238,23 @@ if [ -f "${PKG_CONFIGURE_SCRIPT}" -o -f "${PKG_CMAKE_SCRIPT}" -o -f "${PKG_MESON
   MESON_CONF="${PKG_REAL_BUILD}/meson.conf"
 fi
 
+# create wrapper scripts in build dir and use them for CC/CXX when
+# building for host and local-cc build flag is set
+if [ "${TARGET}" = "host" ] && flag_enabled "local-cc" "no"; then
+  cat > libreelec-local-cc << EOF
+#!/bin/sh
+exec ${CC} "\$@"
+EOF
+  chmod +x libreelec-local-cc
+  export CC=$(pwd)/libreelec-local-cc
+  cat > libreelec-local-cxx << EOF
+#!/bin/sh
+exec ${CXX} "\$@"
+EOF
+  chmod +x libreelec-local-cxx
+  export CXX=$(pwd)/libreelec-local-cxx
+fi
+
 # configure
 if [ -n "${PKG_DEPENDS_CONFIG}" -a -n "${PKG_INSTALL}" ]; then
   for pkg in ${PKG_DEPENDS_CONFIG}; do