diff --git a/configure b/configure
index e69537c756..4b12a8094c 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2024,7 +2024,6 @@ probe_target_compiler() {
         container_cross_prefix=x86_64-linux-gnu-
         ;;
       xtensa*)
-        # FIXME: xtensa-linux-user?
         container_hosts=x86_64
         container_image=debian-xtensa-cross
 
@@ -2481,6 +2480,10 @@ for target in $target_list; do
   echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_target_mak
   echo "TARGET_NAME=$arch" >> $config_target_mak
   case $target in
+    xtensa*-linux-user)
+      # the toolchain is not complete with headers, only build softmmu tests
+      continue
+      ;;
     *-softmmu)
       test -f $source_path/tests/tcg/$arch/Makefile.softmmu-target || continue
       qemu="qemu-system-$arch"