diff --git a/config/functions b/config/functions
index 55f6cb3b83..5a886059d7 100644
--- a/config/functions
+++ b/config/functions
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ setup_toolchain() {
 }
 
 create_meson_conf() {
-  local endian root conf
+  local endian root
   case "$1" in
     target|init)    endian="little"
                     root="$SYSROOT_PREFIX/usr"
@@ -157,24 +157,25 @@ create_meson_conf() {
                     ;;
   esac
 
-  conf=$2
-  echo "[binaries]" > $conf
-  echo "c = '$CC'" >> $conf
-  echo "cpp = '$CXX'" >> $conf
-  echo "ar = '$AR'" >> $conf
-  echo "strip = '$STRIP'" >> $conf
-  echo "pkgconfig = '$PKG_CONFIG'" >> $conf
-  echo "" >> $conf
-  echo "[host_machine]" >> $conf
-  echo "system = 'linux'" >> $conf
-  echo "cpu_family = '$TARGET_ARCH'" >> $conf
-  echo "cpu = '$TARGET_SUBARCH'" >> $conf
-  echo "endian = '$endian'" >> $conf
-  echo "" >> $conf
-  echo "[properties]" >> $conf
-  echo "root = '$root'" >> $conf
-  python -c "import os; print('c_args = {}'.format([x for x in os.getenv('CFLAGS').split()]))" >> $conf
-  python -c "import os; print('c_link_args = {}'.format([x for x in os.getenv('LDFLAGS').split()]))" >> $conf
+  cat > $2 <<EOF
+[binaries]
+c = '$CC'
+cpp = '$CXX'
+ar = '$AR'
+strip = '$STRIP'
+pkgconfig = '$PKG_CONFIG'
+
+[host_machine]
+system = 'linux'
+cpu_family = '$TARGET_ARCH'
+cpu = '$TARGET_SUBARCH'
+endian = '$endian'
+
+[properties]
+root = '$root'
+$(python -c "import os; print('c_args = {}'.format([x for x in os.getenv('CFLAGS').split()]))")
+$(python -c "import os; print('c_link_args = {}'.format([x for x in os.getenv('LDFLAGS').split()]))")
+EOF
 }
 
 # unset all PKG_* vars apart from those exported by setup_toolchain, then set default values