diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
index 4531a5a01d4..1b2f6bbc222 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   gettextNeedsLdflags = stdenv.hostPlatform.libc != "glibc" && !stdenv.hostPlatform.isMusl;
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
+  enableParallelChecking = false; # fails sometimes
 
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "Well integrated set of translation tools and documentation";
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix
index e1ce3200e8c..3f35dce2eb2 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix
@@ -227,6 +227,8 @@ rec {
           inherit doCheck doInstallCheck;
 
           inherit outputs;
+        } // lib.optionalAttrs (attrs.enableParallelBuilding or false) {
+          enableParallelChecking = attrs.enableParallelChecking or true;
         } // lib.optionalAttrs (hardeningDisable != [] || hardeningEnable != []) {
           NIX_HARDENING_ENABLE = enabledHardeningOptions;
         } // lib.optionalAttrs (stdenv.buildPlatform.isDarwin) {
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
index 141e94c5ed4..e51dc1f1a0a 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
@@ -1044,7 +1044,7 @@ checkPhase() {
         # Old bash empty array hack
         # shellcheck disable=SC2086
         local flagsArray=(
-            ${enableParallelBuilding:+-j${NIX_BUILD_CORES} -l${NIX_BUILD_CORES}}
+            ${enableParallelChecking:+-j${NIX_BUILD_CORES} -l${NIX_BUILD_CORES}}
             $makeFlags ${makeFlagsArray+"${makeFlagsArray[@]}"}
             ${checkFlags:-VERBOSE=y} ${checkFlagsArray+"${checkFlagsArray[@]}"}
             ${checkTarget}
@@ -1176,7 +1176,7 @@ installCheckPhase() {
         # Old bash empty array hack
         # shellcheck disable=SC2086
         local flagsArray=(
-            ${enableParallelBuilding:+-j${NIX_BUILD_CORES} -l${NIX_BUILD_CORES}}
+            ${enableParallelChecking:+-j${NIX_BUILD_CORES} -l${NIX_BUILD_CORES}}
             $makeFlags ${makeFlagsArray+"${makeFlagsArray[@]}"}
             $installCheckFlags ${installCheckFlagsArray+"${installCheckFlagsArray[@]}"}
             ${installCheckTarget:-installcheck}
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/security/tor/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/security/tor/default.nix
index bb49e478910..b03c753b0a3 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/security/tor/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/security/tor/default.nix
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   outputs = [ "out" "geoip" ];
 
-  enableParallelBuilding = true;
-
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
   buildInputs = [ libevent openssl zlib ] ++
     stdenv.lib.optionals stdenv.isLinux [ libseccomp systemd libcap ];
@@ -37,14 +35,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       --replace 'exec torsocks' 'exec ${torsocks}/bin/torsocks'
   '';
 
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+  enableParallelChecking = false; # 4 tests fail randomly
+
+  doCheck = true;
+
   postInstall = ''
     mkdir -p $geoip/share/tor
     mv $out/share/tor/geoip{,6} $geoip/share/tor
     rm -rf $out/share/tor
   '';
 
-  doCheck = true;
-
   passthru.updateScript = import ./update.nix {
     inherit (stdenv) lib;
     inherit