diff --git a/client/client_state.cpp b/client/client_state.cpp
index f71e39687c..7cd50cc150 100644
--- a/client/client_state.cpp
+++ b/client/client_state.cpp
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@ int CLIENT_STATE::init() {
         core_client_version.major,
         core_client_version.minor,
         core_client_version.release,
-        get_primary_platform(),
+        HOSTTYPE,
 #ifdef _DEBUG
         " (DEBUG)"
 #else
diff --git a/client/cs_cmdline.cpp b/client/cs_cmdline.cpp
index 6ee61d6983..39cdbbb96d 100644
--- a/client/cs_cmdline.cpp
+++ b/client/cs_cmdline.cpp
@@ -248,13 +248,7 @@ void CLIENT_STATE::parse_cmdline(int argc, char** argv) {
             if (i == argc-1) show_options = true;
             else safe_strcpy(update_prefs_url, argv[++i]);
         } else if (ARG(version)) {
-#ifdef __APPLE__
-            CLIENT_STATE cs;
-            cs.detect_platforms();
-            printf(BOINC_VERSION_STRING " %s\n", cs.get_primary_platform());
-#else
             printf(BOINC_VERSION_STRING " " HOSTTYPE "\n");
-#endif
             exit(0);
 #ifdef __APPLE__
         // workaround for bug in XCode 4.2: accept but ignore 
diff --git a/client/http_curl.cpp b/client/http_curl.cpp
index 7fbd3a61d8..a48ed2b25a 100644
--- a/client/http_curl.cpp
+++ b/client/http_curl.cpp
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ static void get_user_agent_string() {
     if (g_user_agent_string[0]) return;
     snprintf(g_user_agent_string, sizeof(g_user_agent_string),
         "BOINC client (%s %d.%d.%d)",
-        gstate.get_primary_platform(),
+        HOSTTYPE,
         BOINC_MAJOR_VERSION, BOINC_MINOR_VERSION, BOINC_RELEASE
     );
     if (strlen(gstate.client_brand)) {
diff --git a/clientgui/mac/config.h b/clientgui/mac/config.h
index 030bedcd28..35e0d997d0 100644
--- a/clientgui/mac/config.h
+++ b/clientgui/mac/config.h
@@ -337,8 +337,9 @@
 /* #undef HAVE__PROC_SELF_STAT */
 
 /* Host for this compilation */
-/* "i686-apple-darwin", "x86_64-apple-darwin" or "powerpc-apple-darwin" determined at run time */
-#define HOSTTYPE ""
+#ifdef __x86_64__
+#define HOSTTYPE "x86_64-apple-darwin"
+#endif
 
 /* "Define to 1 if largefile support causes missing symbols in C++" */
 /* #undef LARGEFILE_BREAKS_CXX */