diff --git a/config/functions b/config/functions
index e63764f699..00fdfaa2a1 100644
--- a/config/functions
+++ b/config/functions
@@ -103,6 +103,36 @@ setup_toolchain() {
   esac
 }
 
+# unset all PKG_* vars apart from those exported by setup_toolchain, then set default values
+reset_pkg_vars() {
+  local vars var
+
+  for var in ${!PKG_*}; do
+    if [ "${var}" = "PKG_CONFIG" ] || \
+       [ "${var}" = "PKG_CONFIG_PATH" ] || \
+       [ "${var}" = "PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR" ] || \
+       [ "${var}" = "PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR" ] || \
+       [ "${var}" = "PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_CFLAGS" ] || \
+       [ "${var}" = "PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_LIBS" ]; then
+       continue
+    fi
+    vars+="${var} "
+  done
+  [ -n "${vars}" ] && unset -v ${vars}
+
+  if [ -n "$1" ]; then
+    PKG_NAME="$1"
+    PKG_SHORTDESC="$1 (autogenerated)"
+    PKG_LONGDESC="$1 (autogenerated)"
+  fi
+  PKG_VERSION="0.0invalid"
+  PKG_REV="0"
+  PKG_ARCH="any"
+  PKG_LICENSE="unknown"
+  PKG_AUTORECONF="no"
+  PKG_IS_ADDON="no"
+}
+
 kernel_path() {
   get_build_dir linux
 }
diff --git a/config/path b/config/path
index ae9df1c637..4b06442ec5 100644
--- a/config/path
+++ b/config/path
@@ -56,26 +56,7 @@ SED="sed -i"
 unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH
 
 # set package metadata
-  PKG_NAME="$1"
-  PKG_VERSION="0.0invalid"
-  PKG_REV="0"
-  PKG_ARCH="any"
-  PKG_LICENSE="unknown"
-  PKG_SITE=""
-  PKG_URL=""
-  PKG_SOURCE_NAME=""
-  PKG_SOURCE_DIR=""
-  PKG_DEPENDS_TARGET=""
-  PKG_DEPENDS_HOST=""
-  PKG_DEPENDS_INIT=""
-  PKG_DEPENDS_BOOTSTRAP=""
-  PKG_SECTION=""
-  PKG_SHORTDESC="$1 (autogenerated)"
-  PKG_LONGDESC=""
-  PKG_IS_ADDON="no"
-  PKG_PATCH_DIRS=""
-  PKG_NEED_UNPACK=""
-  PKG_SHA256=""
+  reset_pkg_vars "$1"
 
   if [ -n "$1" ]; then
     _PKG_ROOT_NAME=${1%:*}
@@ -188,7 +169,6 @@ if [ -z "$CCACHE_DIR" ]; then
   export CCACHE_DIR=$BUILD/.ccache
 fi
 export MAKEFLAGS=-j$CONCURRENCY_MAKE_LEVEL
-export PKG_CONFIG=$TOOLCHAIN/bin/pkg-config
 
 if [[ -z "$PATH" || ( "$PATH" != "$TOOLCHAIN/bin:$TOOLCHAIN/sbin" && "$PATH" = "${PATH#$TOOLCHAIN/bin:$TOOLCHAIN/sbin:}" ) ]]; then
   export PATH="$TOOLCHAIN/bin:$TOOLCHAIN/sbin${PATH:+":$PATH"}"