diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/spidermonkey/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/spidermonkey/default.nix
index 769d384c998..3ddc506b639 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/spidermonkey/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/spidermonkey/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl}:
+{stdenv, fetchurl, gcc}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "spidermonkey-1.5";
@@ -8,4 +8,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   };
 
   builder = ./builder.sh;
+
+  NIX_GCC = gcc; # remove when the "internal compiler error" in gcc 4.1.x is fixed
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index f27970322c3..dbc20b22f97 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -885,6 +885,7 @@ rec {
 
   spidermonkey = (import ../development/interpreters/spidermonkey) {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
+    gcc = gcc34;
   };
 
   lua4 = (import ../development/interpreters/lua-4) {