diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/architecture.py b/lib/spack/spack/architecture.py
index d65acd92ba4..f4b8585c2f4 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/architecture.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/architecture.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 import platform as py_platform
 import inspect
 
-from llnl.util.lang import memoized, list_modules
+from llnl.util.lang import memoized, list_modules, key_ordering
 from llnl.util.filesystem import join_path
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
 
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ def __init__(self):
         super(NoSysTypeError, self).__init__("Could not determine sys_type for this machine.")
 
 
+@key_ordering
 class Target(object):
     """ Target is the processor of the host machine. The host machine may have different front-end
         and back-end targets, especially if it is a Cray machine. The target will have a name and
@@ -86,6 +87,10 @@ def from_dict(d):
 #            target.architecture = d['architecture']
         return target
 
+
+    def _cmp_key(self):
+        return (self.name, self.module_name)
+
     def __repr__(self):
         return self.__str__()