diff --git a/config/opal_config_asm.m4 b/config/opal_config_asm.m4
index 4e2d7d1b1c1..21156bec05e 100644
--- a/config/opal_config_asm.m4
+++ b/config/opal_config_asm.m4
@@ -1007,7 +1007,11 @@ AC_DEFUN([OPAL_CONFIG_ASM],[
             OPAL_GCC_INLINE_ASSIGN='"or %0,[$]0,[$]0" : "=&r"(ret)'
             ;;
 
-        powerpc-*|powerpc64-*|powerpcle-*|powerpc64le-*|rs6000-*|ppc-*)
+        powerpc-*|powerpc64-*|ppc-*)
+           AC_MSG_ERROR([Big endian PPC is no longer supported.])
+           ;;
+
+        powerpcle-*|powerpc64le-*|rs6000-*)
             OPAL_CHECK_POWERPC_REG
             if test "$ac_cv_sizeof_long" = "4" ; then
                 opal_cv_asm_arch="POWERPC32"
diff --git a/opal/mca/pstat/linux/configure.m4 b/opal/mca/pstat/linux/configure.m4
index ee686de94a6..3869195cf95 100644
--- a/opal/mca/pstat/linux/configure.m4
+++ b/opal/mca/pstat/linux/configure.m4
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ AC_DEFUN([MCA_opal_pstat_linux_CONFIG],[
     AC_CONFIG_FILES([opal/mca/pstat/linux/Makefile])
 
    case "${host}" in
-   i?86-*linux*|x86_64*linux*|ia64-*linux*|powerpc-*linux*|powerpc64-*linux*|powerpc64le-*linux*|powerpcle-*linux*|sparc*-*linux*)
+       powerpc-*|powerpc64-*|ppc-*)
+           AC_MSG_ERROR([Big endian PPC is no longer supported.])
+           ;;
+   i?86-*linux*|x86_64*linux*|ia64-*linux*|powerpc64le-*linux*|powerpcle-*linux*|sparc*-*linux*)
               AS_IF([test -r "/proc/cpuinfo"],
                      [pstat_linux_happy="yes"],
                      [pstat_linux_happy="no"])
diff --git a/opal/mca/timer/linux/configure.m4 b/opal/mca/timer/linux/configure.m4
index 5ec7b013872..d9087306045 100644
--- a/opal/mca/timer/linux/configure.m4
+++ b/opal/mca/timer/linux/configure.m4
@@ -47,7 +47,10 @@ AC_DEFUN([MCA_opal_timer_linux_CONFIG],[
                  [timer_linux_happy="no"])])
 
    case "${host}" in
-   i?86-*linux*|x86_64*linux*|ia64-*linux*|powerpc-*linux*|powerpc64-*linux*|powerpc64le-*linux*|powerpcle-*linux*|sparc*-*linux*|aarch64-*linux*)
+       powerpc-*|powerpc64-*|ppc-*)
+           AC_MSG_ERROR([Big endian PPC is no longer supported.])
+           ;;
+   i?86-*linux*|x86_64*linux*|ia64-*linux*|powerpc64le-*linux*|powerpcle-*linux*|sparc*-*linux*|aarch64-*linux*)
         AS_IF([test "$timer_linux_happy" = "yes"],
               [AS_IF([test -r "/proc/cpuinfo"],
                      [timer_linux_happy="yes"],