diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/rustc.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/rustc.nix
index 18f5a41e51d..04543f17ec9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/rustc.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/rustc.nix
@@ -46,6 +46,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   NIX_LDFLAGS = optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "-rpath ${llvmShared}/lib";
 
+  # Enable nightly features in stable compiles (used for
+  # bootstrapping, see https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/37265).
+  # This loosens the hard restrictions on bootstrapping-compiler
+  # versions.
+  RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP = "1";
+
   src = fetchgit {
     url = https://github.com/rust-lang/rust;
     rev = srcRev;