diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/5_4.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/5_4.nix
index 1cf08bd30c6..fd35a1d4887 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/5_4.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/5_4.nix
@@ -19,10 +19,14 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
   };
 
   configureFlags = ''
-    --with-shared --includedir=''${out}/include --without-debug
+    --with-shared --without-debug
     ${if unicode then "--enable-widec" else ""}${if cxx then "" else "--without-cxx-binding"}
   '';
 
+  preConfigure = ''
+    export configureFlags="$configureFlags --includedir=$out/include"
+  '';
+
   selfNativeBuildInput = true;
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
index 8d20a7339b7..9ba21e99a78 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
@@ -18,12 +18,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
     sha256 = "0fsn7xis81za62afan0vvm38bvgzg5wfmv1m86flqcj0nj7jjilh";
   };
 
+  patches = [ ./patch-ac ];
+
   configureFlags = ''
-    --with-shared --includedir=''${out}/include --without-debug
+    --with-shared --without-debug
     ${if unicode then "--enable-widec" else ""}${if cxx then "" else "--without-cxx-binding"}
   '';
 
-  patches = [ ./patch-ac ];
+  preConfigure = ''
+    export configureFlags="$configureFlags --includedir=$out/include"
+  '';
 
   selfNativeBuildInput = true;