diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/swig/3.x.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/swig/3.x.nix
index 9dc2b535c09..136ea9c9062 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/swig/3.x.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/swig/3.x.nix
@@ -11,10 +11,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "1wyffskbkzj5zyhjnnpip80xzsjcr3p0q5486z3wdwabnysnhn8n";
   };
 
-  # for cross-compiling we need pcre.dev in nativeBuildInputs to get pcre-config
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoconf automake libtool bison pcre.dev ];
-  disallowedReferences = [ buildPackages.pcre.dev ];
-
+  PCRE_CONFIG = "${pcre.dev}/bin/pcre-config";
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoconf automake libtool bison ];
   buildInputs = [ pcre ];
 
   configureFlags = [ "--without-tcl" ];