diff --git a/arch/arch.mk.xtensa b/arch/arch.mk.xtensa
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c8beb194d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arch/arch.mk.xtensa
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+################################################################################
+# Those two variables can be used by packages that need to extract the overlay.
+#
+# ARCH_XTENSA_CORE_NAME   is the name of the Xtensa core; empty if none or the
+#                         standard 'fsf' core.
+# ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_TAR is the path to the overlay tarball; only valid when
+#                         ARCH_XTENSA_CORE_NAME is not empty.
+#
+# Example:
+#   ifneq ($(ARCH_XTENSA_CORE_NAME),)
+#       tar xf $(ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_TAR) -C $(@D) --strip-components=1 gcc
+#   endif
+################################################################################
+ARCH_XTENSA_CORE_NAME = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_XTENSA_CORE_NAME))
+ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_TAR = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_XTENSA_OVERLAY_DIR))/xtensa_$(ARCH_XTENSA_CORE_NAME).tar