macro (canonical_host)
    if (NOT __test_canonical_host)
        message (STATUS "checking the host CPU")

        execute_process (
            COMMAND ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER} -dumpmachine
            RESULT_VARIABLE __canonical_host_result
            OUTPUT_VARIABLE __canonical_host_output
        )

        if (${__canonical_host_result})
            message (FATAL_ERROR "unable to query for canonical host")
        endif (${__canonical_host_result})
        
        string(REGEX MATCH "^([^-\]+)" HOST_CPU ${__canonical_host_output})

        message (STATUS "checking the host CPU - found '${HOST_CPU}'")
    endif (NOT __test_canonical_host)

    set (__test_canonical_host 1 INTERNAL)
endmacro (canonical_host)