diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/harfbuzz/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/harfbuzz/default.nix
index ff60afc1f2b..383f7f60f9b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/harfbuzz/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/harfbuzz/default.nix
@@ -30,10 +30,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   configureFlags = [
     # not auto-detected by default
-    "--with-coretext=${if withCoreText then "yes" else "no"}"
     "--with-graphite2=${if withGraphite2 then "yes" else "no"}"
     "--with-icu=${if withIcu then "yes" else "no"}"
-  ];
+  ]
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional withCoreText "--with-coretext=yes";
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig libintl ];