diff --git a/Makefile.pre.in b/Makefile.pre.in
index f3bccf4fec7..c12305aed6a 100644
--- a/Makefile.pre.in
+++ b/Makefile.pre.in
@@ -285,6 +285,8 @@ LIBOBJS=	@LIBOBJS@
 PYTHON=		python$(EXE)
 BUILDPYTHON=	python$(BUILDEXE)
 
+HOSTRUNNER= @HOSTRUNNER@
+
 PYTHON_FOR_REGEN?=@PYTHON_FOR_REGEN@
 UPDATE_FILE=$(PYTHON_FOR_REGEN) $(srcdir)/Tools/scripts/update_file.py
 PYTHON_FOR_BUILD=@PYTHON_FOR_BUILD@
@@ -1350,7 +1352,7 @@ regen-keyword:
 	$(UPDATE_FILE) $(srcdir)/Lib/keyword.py $(srcdir)/Lib/keyword.py.new
 
 .PHONY: regen-stdlib-module-names
-regen-stdlib-module-names: build_all Programs/_testembed
+regen-stdlib-module-names: all Programs/_testembed
 	# Regenerate Python/stdlib_module_names.h
 	# using Tools/scripts/generate_stdlib_module_names.py
 	$(RUNSHARED) ./$(BUILDPYTHON) \
@@ -1648,7 +1650,7 @@ $(LIBRARY_OBJS) $(MODOBJS) Programs/python.o: $(PYTHON_HEADERS)
 ######################################################################
 
 TESTOPTS=	$(EXTRATESTOPTS)
-TESTPYTHON=	$(RUNSHARED) ./$(BUILDPYTHON) $(TESTPYTHONOPTS)
+TESTPYTHON=	$(RUNSHARED) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) $(TESTPYTHONOPTS)
 TESTRUNNER=	$(TESTPYTHON) $(srcdir)/Tools/scripts/run_tests.py
 TESTTIMEOUT=	1200
 
@@ -1656,7 +1658,7 @@ TESTTIMEOUT=	1200
 
 # Remove "test_python_*" directories of previous failed test jobs.
 # Pass TESTOPTS options because it can contain --tempdir option.
-cleantest: build_all
+cleantest: all
 	$(TESTRUNNER) $(TESTOPTS) --cleanup
 
 # Run a basic set of regression tests.
@@ -1691,14 +1693,14 @@ testuniversal:	@DEF_MAKE_RULE@ platform
 
 # Like testall, but with only one pass and without multiple processes.
 # Run an optional script to include information about the build environment.
-buildbottest:	build_all platform
+buildbottest:	all platform
 		-@if which pybuildbot.identify >/dev/null 2>&1; then \
 			pybuildbot.identify "CC='$(CC)'" "CXX='$(CXX)'"; \
 		fi
 		$(TESTRUNNER) -j 1 -u all -W --slowest --fail-env-changed --timeout=$(TESTTIMEOUT) $(TESTOPTS)
 
-pythoninfo: build_all
-		$(RUNSHARED) ./$(BUILDPYTHON) -m test.pythoninfo
+pythoninfo: all
+		$(RUNSHARED) $(HOSTRUNNER) ./$(BUILDPYTHON) -m test.pythoninfo
 
 QUICKTESTOPTS=	$(TESTOPTS) -x test_subprocess test_io test_lib2to3 \
 		test_multibytecodec test_urllib2_localnet test_itertools \
@@ -1711,10 +1713,10 @@ quicktest:	@DEF_MAKE_RULE@ platform
 
 # SSL tests
 .PHONY: multisslcompile multissltest
-multisslcompile: build_all
+multisslcompile: all
 	$(RUNSHARED) ./$(BUILDPYTHON) $(srcdir)/Tools/ssl/multissltests.py --steps=modules
 
-multissltest: build_all
+multissltest: all
 	$(RUNSHARED) ./$(BUILDPYTHON) $(srcdir)/Tools/ssl/multissltests.py
 
 install: @FRAMEWORKINSTALLFIRST@ commoninstall bininstall maninstall @FRAMEWORKINSTALLLAST@
@@ -1986,7 +1988,7 @@ TESTSUBDIRS=	ctypes/test \
 		unittest/test unittest/test/testmock
 
 TEST_MODULES=@TEST_MODULES@
-libinstall:	build_all $(srcdir)/Modules/xxmodule.c
+libinstall:	all $(srcdir)/Modules/xxmodule.c
 	@for i in $(SCRIPTDIR) $(LIBDEST); \
 	do \
 		if test ! -d $(DESTDIR)$$i; then \
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index f161e4ebed9..2c47a1e85c1 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -888,6 +888,7 @@ AR
 LINK_PYTHON_OBJS
 LINK_PYTHON_DEPS
 LIBRARY_DEPS
+HOSTRUNNER
 STATIC_LIBPYTHON
 GNULD
 EXPORTSFROM
@@ -1076,6 +1077,7 @@ LDFLAGS
 LIBS
 CPPFLAGS
 CPP
+HOSTRUNNER
 PROFILE_TASK
 LIBUUID_CFLAGS
 LIBUUID_LIBS
@@ -1878,6 +1880,7 @@ Some influential environment variables:
   CPPFLAGS    (Objective) C/C++ preprocessor flags, e.g. -I<include dir> if
               you have headers in a nonstandard directory <include dir>
   CPP         C preprocessor
+  HOSTRUNNER  Program to run CPython for the host platform
   PROFILE_TASK
               Python args for PGO generation task
   LIBUUID_CFLAGS
@@ -6671,6 +6674,33 @@ if test "$cross_compiling" = yes; then
 	RUNSHARED=
 fi
 
+
+{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking HOSTRUNNER" >&5
+$as_echo_n "checking HOSTRUNNER... " >&6; }
+if test -z "$HOSTRUNNER"
+then
+  case $ac_sys_system/$ac_sys_emscripten_target in #(
+  Emscripten/node*) :
+
+      if test "x$enable_wasm_pthreads" = xyes; then :
+
+        HOSTRUNNER='node --experimental-wasm-threads --experimental-wasm-bulk-memory'
+
+else
+
+        HOSTRUNNER='node'
+
+fi
+     ;; #(
+  *) :
+    HOSTRUNNER=''
+   ;;
+esac
+fi
+
+{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $HOSTRUNNER" >&5
+$as_echo "$HOSTRUNNER" >&6; }
+
 { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $LDLIBRARY" >&5
 $as_echo "$LDLIBRARY" >&6; }
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 86839547e26..62da321a98a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1412,6 +1412,24 @@ if test "$cross_compiling" = yes; then
 	RUNSHARED=
 fi
 
+AC_ARG_VAR([HOSTRUNNER], [Program to run CPython for the host platform])
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([HOSTRUNNER])
+if test -z "$HOSTRUNNER"
+then
+  AS_CASE([$ac_sys_system/$ac_sys_emscripten_target],
+    [Emscripten/node*], [
+      AS_VAR_IF([enable_wasm_pthreads], [yes], [
+        HOSTRUNNER='node --experimental-wasm-threads --experimental-wasm-bulk-memory'
+      ], [
+        HOSTRUNNER='node'
+      ])
+    ],
+    [HOSTRUNNER='']
+  )
+fi
+AC_SUBST([HOSTRUNNER])
+AC_MSG_RESULT([$HOSTRUNNER])
+
 AC_MSG_RESULT($LDLIBRARY)
 
 # LIBRARY_DEPS, LINK_PYTHON_OBJS and LINK_PYTHON_DEPS variable