diff --git a/changes/ticket40369 b/changes/ticket40369
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..abb59a7125
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/ticket40369
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+  o Minor bugfixes (build, cross-compilation):
+    - Allow a custom "ar" for cross-compilation.  Our previous build script
+      had used the $AR environment variable in most places, but it missed
+      one. Fixes bug 40369; bugfix on 0.4.5.1-alpha.
diff --git a/scripts/build/combine_libs b/scripts/build/combine_libs
index fb311552fe..9c87f68248 100755
--- a/scripts/build/combine_libs
+++ b/scripts/build/combine_libs
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ for input in "$@"; do
     dir="$TMPDIR"/$(basename "$input" .a)
     mkdir "$dir"
     cd "$dir">/dev/null
-    ar x "$abs"
+    "${AR:-ar}" x "$abs"
 done
 
 cd "$TMPDIR" >/dev/null