diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/1.8.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/1.8.nix
index 7cb5d3e5364..bf1efbbb1a9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/1.8.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/1.8.nix
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   patches = [ ./cpp-4.5.patch ];
 
+  # GCC 4.6 raises a number of set-but-unused warnings.
+  configureFlags = [ "--disable-error-on-warning" ];
+
   buildNativeInputs = [ makeWrapper gawk ];
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ readline gmp libtool ];
   selfBuildNativeInput = true;