diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/guile/guile-lint/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/guile/guile-lint/default.nix
index 07eb4779960..543e30cca7b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/guile/guile-lint/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/guile/guile-lint/default.nix
@@ -16,9 +16,8 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
   unpackPhase = ''tar xjvf "$src" && sourceRoot="$PWD/${name}"'';
 
   prePatch = ''
-    cat guile-lint.in |						\
-    sed 's|^exec guile|exec $\{GUILE:-${guile}/bin/guile}|g' > ,,tmp &&	\
-    mv ,,tmp guile-lint.in
+    substituteInPlace guile-lint.in --replace \
+      "exec guile" "exec ${guile}/bin/guile"
   '';
 
   doCheck = true;