diff --git a/conf/distro/include/tcmode-external.inc b/conf/distro/include/tcmode-external.inc
index c3b8e86..b9ecaa4 100644
--- a/conf/distro/include/tcmode-external.inc
+++ b/conf/distro/include/tcmode-external.inc
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ toolchain_metadata_setup[eventmask] = "bb.event.ConfigParsed"
 addhandler toolchain_metadata_setup
 
 GCCVERSION ?= "${@'.'.join('${GCC_VERSION}'.split('.')[:2])}%"
-GCC_VERSION = "${@external_run(d, 'gcc', '-dumpversion').rstrip()}"
+GCC_VERSION = "${@external_run(d, d.getVar('EXTERNAL_CC'), '-dumpversion').rstrip()}"
 GCC_VERSION_allarch = ""
 GCC_VERSION[vardepvalue] = "${GCC_VERSION}"