diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/stow/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/stow/default.nix
index a9d8554525b..6eddcf89b91 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/stow/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/stow/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   buildInputs = [ perl perlPackages.TestOutput ];
 
+  patches = [ ./precedence-issue.patch ];
+
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/stow/precedence-issue.patch b/pkgs/tools/misc/stow/precedence-issue.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d9542573bac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/stow/precedence-issue.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+diff --git a/lib/Stow.pm.in b/lib/Stow.pm.in
+index 101a422..f80b1ac 100755
+--- a/lib/Stow.pm.in
++++ b/lib/Stow.pm.in
+@@ -1732,8 +1732,8 @@ sub read_a_link {
+     }
+     elsif (-l $path) {
+         debug(4, "  read_a_link($path): real link");
+-        return readlink $path
+-            or error("Could not read link: $path");
++        my $target = readlink $path or error("Could not read link: $path ($!)");
++        return $target;
+     }
+     internal_error("read_a_link() passed a non link path: $path\n");
+ }