What's the difference between --host and --target in gcc?

Question

There are three system names that the build knows about: the machine you are building on (build), the machine that you are building for (host),

Answer 1

As per "Configure Terms" the different between "host" and "target" only applies to building a GCC cross compiler for a different machine.

http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/Configure-Terms.html