diff --git a/app-crypt/reop/reop-2.1.1.ebuild b/app-crypt/reop/reop-2.1.1.ebuild
index bc3e143bb3..124477a860 100644
--- a/app-crypt/reop/reop-2.1.1.ebuild
+++ b/app-crypt/reop/reop-2.1.1.ebuild
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ DEPEND="dev-libs/libsodium:="
 RDEPEND="${DEPEND}"
 
 src_compile() {
-	emake CC="${CC}" CFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
+	emake CC="${CC:-cc}" CFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
 }
 
 src_test() {