diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic-v3.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic-v3.nix
index 315608bf2b4..39cf0a1741d 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic-v3.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic-v3.nix
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   doCheck = true;
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-error=misleading-indentation";
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = with stdenv.lib;
+    # gcc before 6 doesn't know this option
+    optionalString (hasPrefix "gcc-6" stdenv.cc.cc) "-Wno-error=misleading-indentation";
 
   meta = {
     description = "Google's data interchange format";