diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/lua-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/lua-packages.nix
index ce8ef3cef4b..c90a8452c25 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/lua-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/lua-packages.nix
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ let
 
     preBuild = ''
       makeFlagsArray=(
-        lua_ldir="$out/share/lua/${lua.luaversion}"
+        LUA_LDIR="$out/share/lua/${lua.luaversion}"
         LUA_INC="-I${lua}/include" LUA_CDIR="$out/lib/lua/${lua.luaversion}"
         EXPAT_INC="-I${expat.dev}/include");
     '';