When building for linux32x86 on ubuntu17.04/64-bits. I _do_ have a cross compiler and can generate 32bit binaries with -m32
---
[...]/opensmalltalk-vm/spursrc [...]/opensmalltalk-vm/src/plugins checking sanity of generated src directory... okay checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu checking target system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
Configuring Squeak (.-) for i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes checking for gcc... gcc -m32 checking for C compiler default output file name... configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables