diff --git a/mesonbuild/modules/pkgconfig.py b/mesonbuild/modules/pkgconfig.py
index 1bdf82931a94..974d2521d52e 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/modules/pkgconfig.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/modules/pkgconfig.py
@@ -701,10 +701,11 @@ def parse_variable_list(vardict: T.Dict[str, str]) -> T.List[T.Tuple[str, str]]:
         pcfile = filebase + '.pc'
         pkgroot = pkgroot_name = kwargs['install_dir'] or default_install_dir
         if pkgroot is None:
-            if mesonlib.is_freebsd():
+            m = state.environment.machines.host
+            if m.is_freebsd():
                 pkgroot = os.path.join(_as_str(state.environment.coredata.get_option(OptionKey('prefix'))), 'libdata', 'pkgconfig')
                 pkgroot_name = os.path.join('{prefix}', 'libdata', 'pkgconfig')
-            elif mesonlib.is_haiku():
+            elif m.is_haiku():
                 pkgroot = os.path.join(_as_str(state.environment.coredata.get_option(OptionKey('prefix'))), 'develop', 'lib', 'pkgconfig')
                 pkgroot_name = os.path.join('{prefix}', 'develop', 'lib', 'pkgconfig')
             else: