diff --git a/lang/kawa/Makefile b/lang/kawa/Makefile
index 50a1aa1c1b5..23c7c12ec2e 100644
--- a/lang/kawa/Makefile
+++ b/lang/kawa/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# $OpenBSD: Makefile,v 1.2 2012/12/21 09:42:28 jasper Exp $
+# $OpenBSD: Makefile,v 1.3 2013/01/16 11:17:18 sthen Exp $
 
 COMMENT=		Scheme and language framework for the Java platform
 
@@ -31,6 +31,15 @@ CONFIGURE_ARGS+=	--enable-kawa-frontend
 CONFIGURE_ENV=		JAVAC=${JAVA_HOME}/bin/javac \
 			JAVA=${JAVA_HOME}/bin/java
 
+.include <bsd.port.arch.mk>
+# fails with this on i386, fails without this on amd64, unsure about
+# other arch but lp64 is probably not a bad indicator.
+.if ${PROPERTIES:Mlp64}
+MAKE_ENV=		SLIB_JAVAFLAGS=-Xmx1200M
+.else
+MAKE_ENV=		SLIB_JAVAFLAGS=-Xmx800M
+.endif
+
 pre-patch:
 	find ${WRKSRC} -type f | \
 		xargs perl -pi -e 's,^JAR =.*,JAR = ${JAVA_HOME}/bin/jar,g'
diff --git a/lang/kawa/patches/patch-gnu_kawa_slib_Makefile_in b/lang/kawa/patches/patch-gnu_kawa_slib_Makefile_in
index ef6239ecd36..19aa8abfb99 100644
--- a/lang/kawa/patches/patch-gnu_kawa_slib_Makefile_in
+++ b/lang/kawa/patches/patch-gnu_kawa_slib_Makefile_in
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-$OpenBSD: patch-gnu_kawa_slib_Makefile_in,v 1.1 2012/12/23 12:06:24 sthen Exp $
+$OpenBSD: patch-gnu_kawa_slib_Makefile_in,v 1.2 2013/01/16 11:17:18 sthen Exp $
 
-Fails to compile swing.scm with defaults.
+Fails to compile swing.scm with defaults on some arch.
 
 --- gnu/kawa/slib/Makefile.in.orig	Sun Dec 23 11:04:57 2012
 +++ gnu/kawa/slib/Makefile.in	Sun Dec 23 11:05:06 2012
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Fails to compile swing.scm with defaults.
  INSTALL_SCRIPT = @INSTALL_SCRIPT@
  INSTALL_STRIP_PROGRAM = @INSTALL_STRIP_PROGRAM@
 -JAVA = @JAVA@
-+JAVA = @JAVA@ -Xmx1200M
++JAVA = @JAVA@ ${SLIB_JAVAFLAGS}
  JAVAC = @JAVAC@
  JAVACFLAGS = @JAVACFLAGS@
  JAVA_SOURCE = @JAVA_SOURCE@