diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 98e68ef0b1..13f21fd24d 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -678,9 +678,7 @@ endif
 tcg_arch = host_arch
 if get_option('tcg').allowed()
   if host_arch == 'unknown'
-    if get_option('tcg_interpreter')
-      warning('Unsupported CPU @0@, will use TCG with TCI (slow)'.format(cpu))
-    else
+    if not get_option('tcg_interpreter')
       error('Unsupported CPU @0@, try --enable-tcg-interpreter'.format(cpu))
     endif
   elif get_option('tcg_interpreter')
@@ -4317,28 +4315,37 @@ summary_info += {'selinux':           selinux}
 summary_info += {'libdw':             libdw}
 summary(summary_info, bool_yn: true, section: 'Dependencies')
 
-if not supported_cpus.contains(cpu)
+if host_arch == 'unknown'
   message()
-  warning('SUPPORT FOR THIS HOST CPU WILL GO AWAY IN FUTURE RELEASES!')
+  warning('UNSUPPORTED HOST CPU')
   message()
-  message('CPU host architecture ' + cpu + ' support is not currently maintained.')
-  message('The QEMU project intends to remove support for this host CPU in')
-  message('a future release if nobody volunteers to maintain it and to')
-  message('provide a build host for our continuous integration setup.')
-  message('configure has succeeded and you can continue to build, but')
-  message('if you care about QEMU on this platform you should contact')
-  message('us upstream at qemu-devel@nongnu.org.')
+  message('Support for CPU host architecture ' + cpu + ' is not currently')
+  message('maintained. The QEMU project does not guarantee that QEMU will')
+  message('compile or work on this host CPU. You can help by volunteering')
+  message('to maintain it and providing a build host for our continuous')
+  message('integration setup.')
+  if get_option('tcg').allowed() and target_dirs.length() > 0
+    message()
+    message('configure has succeeded and you can continue to build, but')
+    message('QEMU will use a slow interpreter to emulate the target CPU.')
+  endif
 endif
 
 if not supported_oses.contains(targetos)
   message()
-  warning('WARNING: SUPPORT FOR THIS HOST OS WILL GO AWAY IN FUTURE RELEASES!')
+  warning('UNSUPPORTED HOST OS')
   message()
-  message('Host OS ' + targetos + 'support is not currently maintained.')
-  message('The QEMU project intends to remove support for this host OS in')
-  message('a future release if nobody volunteers to maintain it and to')
-  message('provide a build host for our continuous integration setup.')
+  message('Support for host OS ' + targetos + 'is not currently maintained.')
   message('configure has succeeded and you can continue to build, but')
-  message('if you care about QEMU on this platform you should contact')
-  message('us upstream at qemu-devel@nongnu.org.')
+  message('the QEMU project does not guarantee that QEMU will compile or')
+  message('work on this operating system. You can help by volunteering')
+  message('to maintain it and providing a build host for our continuous')
+  message('integration setup. This will ensure that future versions of QEMU')
+  message('will keep working on ' + targetos + '.')
+endif
+
+if host_arch == 'unknown' or not supported_oses.contains(targetos)
+  message()
+  message('If you want to help supporting QEMU on this platform, please')
+  message('contact the developers at qemu-devel@nongnu.org.')
 endif