diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index fd168c00464..f19a34e47fb 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -740,6 +740,9 @@ Release 0.22.0 - Unreleased
 
     HADOOP-7146. RPC server leaks file descriptors (todd)
 
+    HADOOP-7276. Hadoop native builds fail on ARM due to -m32 (Trevor Robinson
+    via eli)
+
 Release 0.21.1 - Unreleased
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
diff --git a/src/native/Makefile.am b/src/native/Makefile.am
index 39192707f00..6475359fa71 100644
--- a/src/native/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/native/Makefile.am
@@ -36,8 +36,12 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS = @JNI_CPPFLAGS@ -I$(HADOOP_NATIVE_SRCDIR)/src \
               -Isrc/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib \
               -Isrc/org/apache/hadoop/security \
               -Isrc/org/apache/hadoop/io/nativeio/
-AM_LDFLAGS = @JNI_LDFLAGS@ -m$(JVM_DATA_MODEL)
-AM_CFLAGS = -g -Wall -fPIC -O2 -m$(JVM_DATA_MODEL)
+AM_LDFLAGS = @JNI_LDFLAGS@
+AM_CFLAGS = -g -Wall -fPIC -O2
+if SPECIFY_DATA_MODEL
+AM_LDFLAGS += -m$(JVM_DATA_MODEL)
+AM_CFLAGS += -m$(JVM_DATA_MODEL)
+endif
 
 lib_LTLIBRARIES = libhadoop.la
 libhadoop_la_SOURCES = src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/ZlibCompressor.c \
diff --git a/src/native/configure.ac b/src/native/configure.ac
index c2d2dc18fcd..a1ce73c15c2 100644
--- a/src/native/configure.ac
+++ b/src/native/configure.ac
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ AC_CHECK_FUNCS([memset])
 # Check for nonstandard STRERROR_R
 AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R
 
+AM_CONDITIONAL([SPECIFY_DATA_MODEL], [case $host_cpu in arm*) false;; *) true;; esac])
+
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
 AC_OUTPUT
 
diff --git a/src/native/lib/Makefile.am b/src/native/lib/Makefile.am
index 99c03602d1d..9b536ff440c 100644
--- a/src/native/lib/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/native/lib/Makefile.am
@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@
 
 # Add .lo files in $(SUBDIRS) to construct libhadoop.so
 HADOOP_OBJS = $(foreach path,$(addprefix ../,$(SUBDIRS)),$(wildcard $(path)/*.lo))
-AM_LDFLAGS = @JNI_LDFLAGS@ -m$(JVM_DATA_MODEL)
+AM_LDFLAGS = @JNI_LDFLAGS@
+if SPECIFY_DATA_MODEL
+AM_LDFLAGS += -m$(JVM_DATA_MODEL)
+endif
 
 lib_LTLIBRARIES = libhadoop.la
 libhadoop_la_SOURCES = 
diff --git a/src/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/Makefile.am b/src/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/Makefile.am
index 7849ed77623..821f33f0527 100644
--- a/src/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/Makefile.am
@@ -39,7 +39,10 @@ vpath %.c $(HADOOP_NATIVE_SRCDIR)/$(subdir)
 
 AM_CPPFLAGS = @JNI_CPPFLAGS@ -I$(HADOOP_NATIVE_SRCDIR)/src
 AM_LDFLAGS = @JNI_LDFLAGS@
-AM_CFLAGS = -g -Wall -fPIC -O2 -m$(JVM_DATA_MODEL)
+AM_CFLAGS = -g -Wall -fPIC -O2
+if SPECIFY_DATA_MODEL
+AM_CFLAGS += -m$(JVM_DATA_MODEL)
+endif
 
 noinst_LTLIBRARIES = libnativezlib.la
 libnativezlib_la_SOURCES = ZlibCompressor.c ZlibDecompressor.c