diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gegl/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gegl/default.nix
index a589d625273..38432f68273 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gegl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gegl/default.nix
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   # needs fonts otherwise  don't know how to pass them
   configureFlags = "--disable-docs";
 
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = if stdenv.isDarwin then "-lintl" else null;
+
   buildInputs = [ babl libpng cairo libjpeg librsvg pango gtk bzip2 intltool ];
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];