diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc-4.5/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc-4.5/default.nix
index abe6186ef96..2e840e90fbe 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc-4.5/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc-4.5/default.nix
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ({
   };
 
   patches =
-    [ ]
+    [ ./pr45894.patch ]
     ++ optional (cross != null) ./libstdc++-target.patch
     ++ optional noSysDirs ./no-sys-dirs.patch
     # The GNAT Makefiles did not pay attention to CFLAGS_FOR_TARGET for its
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc-4.5/pr45894.patch b/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc-4.5/pr45894.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b6263faffc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/gcc-4.5/pr45894.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+See <http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=45894> for details.
+
+Without this, compilation of GCC itself fails:
+
+  ./../../../gcc-4.5.2/libstdc++-v3/src/pool_allocator.cc  -fPIC -DPIC -o .libs/pool_allocator.o
+  In file included from ../../../../gcc-4.5.2/libstdc++-v3/src/pool_allocator.cc:31:0:
+  /tmp/nix-build-7d6ii7c1hqf0vzhxklbmnpbmzhq7glgr-gcc-4.5.2.drv-0/build/i686-pc-linux-gnu/libstdc++-v3/include/ext/pool_allocator.h: In constructor '__gnu_cxx::__pool_alloc<_Tp>::__pool_alloc() [with _Tp = char]':
+  ../../../../gcc-4.5.2/libstdc++-v3/src/pool_allocator.cc:171:18:   instantiated from here
+  /tmp/nix-build-7d6ii7c1hqf0vzhxklbmnpbmzhq7glgr-gcc-4.5.2.drv-0/build/i686-pc-linux-gnu/libstdc++-v3/include/ext/pool_allocator.h:140:30: internal compiler error: Segmentation fault
+  Please submit a full bug report,
+
+--- gcc-4_5-branch/gcc/cp/tree.c	2010/11/11 20:40:32	166620
++++ gcc-4_5-branch/gcc/cp/tree.c	2010/11/11 20:41:34	166621
+@@ -72,7 +72,8 @@
+ 	  == REFERENCE_TYPE)
+     return lvalue_p_1 (TREE_OPERAND (ref, 0));
+ 
+-  if (TREE_CODE (TREE_TYPE (ref)) == REFERENCE_TYPE)
++  if (TREE_TYPE (ref)
++      && TREE_CODE (TREE_TYPE (ref)) == REFERENCE_TYPE)
+     {
+       /* unnamed rvalue references are rvalues */
+       if (TYPE_REF_IS_RVALUE (TREE_TYPE (ref))