diff --git a/binutils/config.in b/binutils/config.in
index a9a9f71b31f..ee148c756f4 100644
--- a/binutils/config.in
+++ b/binutils/config.in
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 #endif
 #define __CONFIG_H__ 1
 
+/* Define if building universal (internal helper macro) */
+#undef AC_APPLE_UNIVERSAL_BUILD
+
 /* Should ar and ranlib use -D behavior by default? */
 #undef DEFAULT_AR_DETERMINISTIC
 
@@ -256,6 +259,18 @@
 /* Version number of package */
 #undef VERSION
 
+/* Define WORDS_BIGENDIAN to 1 if your processor stores words with the most
+   significant byte first (like Motorola and SPARC, unlike Intel). */
+#if defined AC_APPLE_UNIVERSAL_BUILD
+# if defined __BIG_ENDIAN__
+#  define WORDS_BIGENDIAN 1
+# endif
+#else
+# ifndef WORDS_BIGENDIAN
+#  undef WORDS_BIGENDIAN
+# endif
+#endif
+
 /* Define to 1 if `lex' declares `yytext' as a `char *' by default, not a
    `char[]'. */
 #undef YYTEXT_POINTER
diff --git a/binutils/configure b/binutils/configure
index e78103ac133..2b9f52720c3 100755
--- a/binutils/configure
+++ b/binutils/configure
@@ -4725,6 +4725,231 @@ $as_echo "$ac_cv_safe_to_define___extensions__" >&6; }
 
 
 
+ { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking whether byte ordering is bigendian" >&5
+$as_echo_n "checking whether byte ordering is bigendian... " >&6; }
+if ${ac_cv_c_bigendian+:} false; then :
+  $as_echo_n "(cached) " >&6
+else
+  ac_cv_c_bigendian=unknown
+    # See if we're dealing with a universal compiler.
+    cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
+/* end confdefs.h.  */
+#ifndef __APPLE_CC__
+	       not a universal capable compiler
+	     #endif
+	     typedef int dummy;
+
+_ACEOF
+if ac_fn_c_try_compile "$LINENO"; then :
+
+	# Check for potential -arch flags.  It is not universal unless
+	# there are at least two -arch flags with different values.
+	ac_arch=
+	ac_prev=
+	for ac_word in $CC $CFLAGS $CPPFLAGS $LDFLAGS; do
+	 if test -n "$ac_prev"; then
+	   case $ac_word in
+	     i?86 | x86_64 | ppc | ppc64)
+	       if test -z "$ac_arch" || test "$ac_arch" = "$ac_word"; then
+		 ac_arch=$ac_word
+	       else
+		 ac_cv_c_bigendian=universal
+		 break
+	       fi
+	       ;;
+	   esac
+	   ac_prev=
+	 elif test "x$ac_word" = "x-arch"; then
+	   ac_prev=arch
+	 fi
+       done
+fi
+rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.$ac_ext
+    if test $ac_cv_c_bigendian = unknown; then
+      # See if sys/param.h defines the BYTE_ORDER macro.
+      cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
+/* end confdefs.h.  */
+#include <sys/types.h>
+	     #include <sys/param.h>
+
+int
+main ()
+{
+#if ! (defined BYTE_ORDER && defined BIG_ENDIAN \
+		     && defined LITTLE_ENDIAN && BYTE_ORDER && BIG_ENDIAN \
+		     && LITTLE_ENDIAN)
+	      bogus endian macros
+	     #endif
+
+  ;
+  return 0;
+}
+_ACEOF
+if ac_fn_c_try_compile "$LINENO"; then :
+  # It does; now see whether it defined to BIG_ENDIAN or not.
+	 cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
+/* end confdefs.h.  */
+#include <sys/types.h>
+		#include <sys/param.h>
+
+int
+main ()
+{
+#if BYTE_ORDER != BIG_ENDIAN
+		 not big endian
+		#endif
+
+  ;
+  return 0;
+}
+_ACEOF
+if ac_fn_c_try_compile "$LINENO"; then :
+  ac_cv_c_bigendian=yes
+else
+  ac_cv_c_bigendian=no
+fi
+rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.$ac_ext
+fi
+rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.$ac_ext
+    fi
+    if test $ac_cv_c_bigendian = unknown; then
+      # See if <limits.h> defines _LITTLE_ENDIAN or _BIG_ENDIAN (e.g., Solaris).
+      cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
+/* end confdefs.h.  */
+#include <limits.h>
+
+int
+main ()
+{
+#if ! (defined _LITTLE_ENDIAN || defined _BIG_ENDIAN)
+	      bogus endian macros
+	     #endif
+
+  ;
+  return 0;
+}
+_ACEOF
+if ac_fn_c_try_compile "$LINENO"; then :
+  # It does; now see whether it defined to _BIG_ENDIAN or not.
+	 cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
+/* end confdefs.h.  */
+#include <limits.h>
+
+int
+main ()
+{
+#ifndef _BIG_ENDIAN
+		 not big endian
+		#endif
+
+  ;
+  return 0;
+}
+_ACEOF
+if ac_fn_c_try_compile "$LINENO"; then :
+  ac_cv_c_bigendian=yes
+else
+  ac_cv_c_bigendian=no
+fi
+rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.$ac_ext
+fi
+rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.$ac_ext
+    fi
+    if test $ac_cv_c_bigendian = unknown; then
+      # Compile a test program.
+      if test "$cross_compiling" = yes; then :
+  # Try to guess by grepping values from an object file.
+	 cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
+/* end confdefs.h.  */
+short int ascii_mm[] =
+		  { 0x4249, 0x4765, 0x6E44, 0x6961, 0x6E53, 0x7953, 0 };
+		short int ascii_ii[] =
+		  { 0x694C, 0x5454, 0x656C, 0x6E45, 0x6944, 0x6E61, 0 };
+		int use_ascii (int i) {
+		  return ascii_mm[i] + ascii_ii[i];
+		}
+		short int ebcdic_ii[] =
+		  { 0x89D3, 0xE3E3, 0x8593, 0x95C5, 0x89C4, 0x9581, 0 };
+		short int ebcdic_mm[] =
+		  { 0xC2C9, 0xC785, 0x95C4, 0x8981, 0x95E2, 0xA8E2, 0 };
+		int use_ebcdic (int i) {
+		  return ebcdic_mm[i] + ebcdic_ii[i];
+		}
+		extern int foo;
+
+int
+main ()
+{
+return use_ascii (foo) == use_ebcdic (foo);
+  ;
+  return 0;
+}
+_ACEOF
+if ac_fn_c_try_compile "$LINENO"; then :
+  if grep BIGenDianSyS conftest.$ac_objext >/dev/null; then
+	      ac_cv_c_bigendian=yes
+	    fi
+	    if grep LiTTleEnDian conftest.$ac_objext >/dev/null ; then
+	      if test "$ac_cv_c_bigendian" = unknown; then
+		ac_cv_c_bigendian=no
+	      else
+		# finding both strings is unlikely to happen, but who knows?
+		ac_cv_c_bigendian=unknown
+	      fi
+	    fi
+fi
+rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.$ac_ext
+else
+  cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
+/* end confdefs.h.  */
+$ac_includes_default
+int
+main ()
+{
+
+	     /* Are we little or big endian?  From Harbison&Steele.  */
+	     union
+	     {
+	       long int l;
+	       char c[sizeof (long int)];
+	     } u;
+	     u.l = 1;
+	     return u.c[sizeof (long int) - 1] == 1;
+
+  ;
+  return 0;
+}
+_ACEOF
+if ac_fn_c_try_run "$LINENO"; then :
+  ac_cv_c_bigendian=no
+else
+  ac_cv_c_bigendian=yes
+fi
+rm -f core *.core core.conftest.* gmon.out bb.out conftest$ac_exeext \
+  conftest.$ac_objext conftest.beam conftest.$ac_ext
+fi
+
+    fi
+fi
+{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $ac_cv_c_bigendian" >&5
+$as_echo "$ac_cv_c_bigendian" >&6; }
+ case $ac_cv_c_bigendian in #(
+   yes)
+     $as_echo "#define WORDS_BIGENDIAN 1" >>confdefs.h
+;; #(
+   no)
+      ;; #(
+   universal)
+
+$as_echo "#define AC_APPLE_UNIVERSAL_BUILD 1" >>confdefs.h
+
+     ;; #(
+   *)
+     as_fn_error $? "unknown endianness
+ presetting ac_cv_c_bigendian=no (or yes) will help" "$LINENO" 5 ;;
+ esac
+
+
 case `pwd` in
   *\ * | *\	*)
     { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: WARNING: Libtool does not cope well with whitespace in \`pwd\`" >&5
@@ -10858,7 +11083,7 @@ else
   lt_dlunknown=0; lt_dlno_uscore=1; lt_dlneed_uscore=2
   lt_status=$lt_dlunknown
   cat > conftest.$ac_ext <<_LT_EOF
-#line 10861 "configure"
+#line 11086 "configure"
 #include "confdefs.h"
 
 #if HAVE_DLFCN_H
@@ -10964,7 +11189,7 @@ else
   lt_dlunknown=0; lt_dlno_uscore=1; lt_dlneed_uscore=2
   lt_status=$lt_dlunknown
   cat > conftest.$ac_ext <<_LT_EOF
-#line 10967 "configure"
+#line 11192 "configure"
 #include "confdefs.h"
 
 #if HAVE_DLFCN_H
@@ -16532,6 +16757,7 @@ if test -z "${am__fastdepCC_TRUE}" && test -z "${am__fastdepCC_FALSE}"; then
   as_fn_error $? "conditional \"am__fastdepCC\" was never defined.
 Usually this means the macro was only invoked conditionally." "$LINENO" 5
 fi
+
 if test -z "${ENABLE_LIBCTF_TRUE}" && test -z "${ENABLE_LIBCTF_FALSE}"; then
   as_fn_error $? "conditional \"ENABLE_LIBCTF\" was never defined.
 Usually this means the macro was only invoked conditionally." "$LINENO" 5
diff --git a/binutils/configure.ac b/binutils/configure.ac
index b03e36c9e0e..dac72c1bdd4 100644
--- a/binutils/configure.ac
+++ b/binutils/configure.ac
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ AC_PROG_CC
 AC_GNU_SOURCE
 AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
 
+AC_C_BIGENDIAN
+
 LT_INIT
 ACX_LARGEFILE
 
diff --git a/binutils/winduni.c b/binutils/winduni.c
index 5b659764948..f19de4f8cb3 100644
--- a/binutils/winduni.c
+++ b/binutils/winduni.c
@@ -771,7 +771,13 @@ wind_MultiByteToWideChar (rc_uint_type cp, const char *mb,
 
   if (!mb || !iconv_name)
     return 0;
-  iconv_t cd = iconv_open ("UTF-16LE", iconv_name);
+  iconv_t cd = iconv_open (
+#if WORDS_BIGENDIAN
+			   "UTF-16BE",
+#else
+			   "UTF-16LE",
+#endif
+			   iconv_name);
 
   while (1)
     {
@@ -844,7 +850,13 @@ wind_WideCharToMultiByte (rc_uint_type cp, const unichar *u, char *mb, rc_uint_t
 
   if (!u || !iconv_name)
     return 0;
-  iconv_t cd = iconv_open (iconv_name, "UTF-16LE");
+  iconv_t cd = iconv_open (iconv_name,
+#if WORDS_BIGENDIAN
+			   "UTF-16BE"
+#else
+			   "UTF-16LE"
+#endif
+			   );
 
   while (1)
     {