diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/interpreter.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/interpreter.nix
index 506f9ca7207..4c45a3c6bdd 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/interpreter.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/interpreter.nix
@@ -72,6 +72,8 @@ self = stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
   inherit postConfigure;
 
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-lm" ] ++ lib.optional (lib.versionOlder luaversion "5.2") "-ldl";
+
   inherit postBuild;
 
   postInstall = ''
@@ -93,7 +95,7 @@ self = stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     Description: An Extensible Extension Language
     Version: ${version}
     Requires:
-    Libs: -L$out/lib -llua -lm
+    Libs: -L$out/lib -llua
     Cflags: -I$out/include
     EOF
     ln -s "$out/lib/pkgconfig/lua.pc" "$out/lib/pkgconfig/lua-${luaversion}.pc"