diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/xpdf/cmake_version.patch b/pkgs/applications/misc/xpdf/cmake_version.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..59a51f7506d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/xpdf/cmake_version.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+
+Fix "No known features for CXX compiler", see
+https://cmake.org/pipermail/cmake/2016-December/064733.html and the note at
+https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.10/command/cmake_minimum_required.html
+--- a/CMakeLists.txt
++++ b/CMakeLists.txt
+@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
+ #
+ #========================================================================
+ 
+-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.8)
++cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.1.0)
+ 
+ project(xpdf)
+ 
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/xpdf/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/xpdf/default.nix
index ef031c4b9f4..87c267bbff1 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/xpdf/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/xpdf/default.nix
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sha256 = "1mhn89738vjva14xr5gblc2zrdgzmpqbbjdflqdmpqv647294ggz";
   };
 
+  # Fix "No known features for CXX compiler", see
+  # https://cmake.org/pipermail/cmake/2016-December/064733.html and the note at
+  # https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.10/command/cmake_minimum_required.html
+  patches = stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin  ./cmake_version.patch;
+
   nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
 
   cmakeFlags = ["-DSYSTEM_XPDFRC=/etc/xpdfrc" "-DA4_PAPER=ON"];