./configure gives me the following error upon compilation attempt:

loading cache ./config.cache
checking host system type... Invalid configuration `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu': machine `x86_64-unknown' not recognized

checking target system type... Invalid configuration `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu': machine `x86_64-unknown' not recognized

checking build system type... Invalid configuration `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu': machine `x86_64-unknown' not recognized

checking for gcc... (cached) gcc
checking whether the C compiler (gcc   ) works... yes
checking whether the C compiler (gcc   ) is a cross-compiler... no
checking whether we are using GNU C... (cached) yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... (cached) yes
checking how to run the C preprocessor... (cached) gcc -E
checking for ranlib... (cached) ranlib
checking for ld used by GCC... (cached) /usr/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld) is GNU ld... (cached) yes
checking for BSD-compatible nm... (cached) /usr/bin/nm -B
checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output... (cached) yes
checking for _ prefix in compiled symbols... (cached) no
checking whether ln -s works... (cached) yes
ltconfig: you must specify a host type if you use `--no-verify'
Try `ltconfig --help' for more information.
configure: error: libtool configure failed

I tried setting the host var by using

./configure --host=$[my system]

but got the same error with the new host name. I'm still new to using configure and makefiles, but my guess is either I'm entering the wrong host name, or am doing this entirely incorrectly.