diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/default.nix
index 4c88e9c6807..5e109f9f46e 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/default.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ let version = "0.8.1"; in
           polkit gcab appstream-glib gusb sqlite libarchive libsoup
           docbook2x libxslt libelf libsmbios fwupdate libyaml valgrind
         ];
-      patchPhase = ''
+      patches = [ ./localstatedir-check-perms.patch ];
+      postPatch = ''
         sed -i -e \
           's|/usr/bin/gpgme-config|${gpgme.dev}/bin/gpgme-config|' -e \
           's|/usr/bin/gpg-error-config|${libgpgerror.dev}/bin/gpg-error-config|' \
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ let version = "0.8.1"; in
       configureFlags =
         [ "--with-systemdunitdir=$(out)/lib/systemd/system"
           "--with-udevrulesdir=$(out)/lib/udev/rules.d"
+          "--localstatedir=/var"
         ];
       enableParallelBuilding = true;
       meta =
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/localstatedir-check-perms.patch b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/localstatedir-check-perms.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0c1429d4f2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/localstatedir-check-perms.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+diff -Naur fwupd-0.8.1-orig/src/Makefile.in fwupd-0.8.1/src/Makefile.in
+--- fwupd-0.8.1-orig/src/Makefile.in	2017-02-24 02:59:23.000000000 -0500
++++ fwupd-0.8.1/src/Makefile.in	2017-02-27 15:06:56.218901891 -0500
+@@ -1639,7 +1639,7 @@
+ 		$(srcdir)/fwupd.gresource.xml
+ 
+ install-data-hook:
+-	if test -w $(DESTDIR)$(prefix)/; then \
++	if test -w $$(dirname $(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/); then \
+ 		mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/lib/fwupd; \
+ 		chmod 0755 $(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/lib/fwupd; \
+ 		mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/cache/app-info/xmls; \