--- a/ext/c4core.src/c4/cpu.hpp
+++ b/ext/c4core.src/c4/cpu.hpp
@@ -190,6 +190,15 @@
 #   endif
 #   define C4_BYTE_ORDER C4EB_
 
+#elif defined(__GNUC__) && defined(__SIZEOF_POINTER__) && defined(__BYTE_ORDER__)
+    /* generic GCC compatible fallback, e.g. alpha, hppa, m68k, sh */
+#   define C4_WORDSIZE __SIZEOF_POINTER__
+#   if __BYTE_ORDER__ == __ORDER_BIG_ENDIAN__
+#       define C4_BYTE_ORDER C4EB_
+#   else
+#       define C4_BYTE_ORDER C4EL_
+#   endif
+
 #elif defined(SWIG)
 #   error "please define CPU architecture macros when compiling with swig"