diff --git a/pkgs/tools/security/doas/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/security/doas/default.nix
index 58ada1086bc..8cc9017a8fe 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/security/doas/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/security/doas/default.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 , fetchFromGitHub
 , bison
 , pam
+
+, withTimestamp ? true
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
@@ -19,6 +21,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   # otherwise confuses ./configure
   dontDisableStatic = true;
 
+  configureFlags = [
+    (lib.optionalString withTimestamp "--with-timestamp") # to allow the "persist" setting
+    "--pamdir=${placeholder "out"}/etc/pam.d"
+  ];
+
   postPatch = ''
     sed -i '/\(chown\|chmod\)/d' bsd.prog.mk
   '';