diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
index f2b98e541e8..29f0fc5b496 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
@@ -228,6 +228,25 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ({
         configureFlags+=" --extra-lib-dirs=$p/lib"
       fi
     done
+
+    if "${if stdenv.isDarwin then "true" else "false"}"; then
+      # Work around a limit in the Mac OS X Sierra linker on the number of paths
+      # referenced by any one dynamic library:
+      #
+      # Create a local directory with symlinks of the *.dylib (Mac OS X shared
+      # libraries) from all the dependencies.
+      local dynamicLinksDir="$out/lib/links"
+      mkdir -p $dynamicLinksDir
+      local foundDylib=false
+      for d in $(grep dynamic-library-dirs $packageConfDir/*|awk '{print $2}'); do
+        ln -s $d/*.dylib $dynamicLinksDir
+      done
+      # Edit the local package DB to reference the links directory.
+      for f in $packageConfDir/*.conf; do
+        sed -i "s,dynamic-library-dirs: .*,dynamic-library-dirs: $dynamicLinksDir," $f
+      done
+    fi
+
     ${ghcCommand}-pkg --${packageDbFlag}="$packageConfDir" recache
 
     runHook postSetupCompilerEnvironment
diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/with-packages-wrapper.nix b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/with-packages-wrapper.nix
index 15d66bbd6dc..bcbfa32bb1e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/with-packages-wrapper.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/with-packages-wrapper.nix
@@ -97,6 +97,29 @@ symlinkJoin {
       fi
     done
 
+    # Work around a linker limit in Mac OS X Sierra (see generic-builder.nix):
+    if "${if stdenv.isDarwin then "true" else "false"}"; then
+      local packageConfDir="$out/lib/${ghc.name}/package.conf.d";
+      local dynamicLinksDir="$out/lib/links"
+      mkdir -p $dynamicLinksDir
+      # Clean up the old links that may have been (transitively) included by
+      # symlinkJoin:
+      rm -f $dynamicLinksDir/*
+      for d in $(grep dynamic-library-dirs $packageConfDir/*|awk '{print $2}'); do
+        ln -s $d/*.dylib $dynamicLinksDir
+      done
+      for f in $packageConfDir/*.conf; do
+        # Initially, $f is a symlink to a read-only file in one of the inputs
+        # (as a result of this symlinkJoin derivation).
+        # Replace it with a copy whose dynamic-library-dirs points to
+        # $dynamicLinksDir
+        cp $f $f-tmp
+        rm $f
+        sed "s,dynamic-library-dirs: .*,dynamic-library-dirs: $dynamicLinksDir," $f-tmp > $f
+        rm $f-tmp
+      done
+    fi
+
     ${lib.optionalString hasLibraries "$out/bin/${ghcCommand}-pkg recache"}
     ${# ghcjs will read the ghc_libdir file when resolving plugins.
       lib.optionalString (isGhcjs && ghcLibdir != null) ''