diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/racket/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/racket/default.nix
index 79759eb6443..07f622931fa 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/racket/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/racket/default.nix
@@ -47,12 +47,14 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [ fontconfig libffi libtool makeWrapper sqlite ];
 
   preConfigure = ''
+    unset AR
     substituteInPlace src/configure --replace /usr/bin/uname ${coreutils}/bin/uname
     mkdir src/build
     cd src/build
   '';
 
-  configureFlags = [ "--enable-lt=${libtool}/bin/libtool" ]
+  shared = if stdenv.isDarwin then "dylib" else "shared";
+  configureFlags = [ "--enable-${shared}"  "--enable-lt=${libtool}/bin/libtool" ]
                    ++ stdenv.lib.optional disableDocs [ "--disable-docs" ]
                    ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin [ "--enable-xonx" ];