diff --git a/app-text/mandoc/mandoc-1.14.5.ebuild b/app-text/mandoc/mandoc-1.14.5.ebuild
index 029a69eeadc91..5fdb433abdbd7 100644
--- a/app-text/mandoc/mandoc-1.14.5.ebuild
+++ b/app-text/mandoc/mandoc-1.14.5.ebuild
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 1999-2019 Gentoo Authors
+# Copyright 1999-2020 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
 EAPI="6"
@@ -28,6 +28,13 @@ src_prepare() {
 		-e '/^db-install:/s:$: base-install:' \
 		Makefile || die
 
+	# make-4.3 doesn't like the CC line (bug #706024)
+	# and "echo -n" is not portable
+	sed \
+		-e "s@^\(CC=\).*\$@\1\"$(tc-getCC)\"@" \
+		-e 's@echo -n@printf@g' \
+		-i configure || die
+
 	cat <<-EOF > "configure.local"
 		PREFIX="${EPREFIX}/usr"
 		BINDIR="${EPREFIX}/usr/bin"