diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/fi/fim/native-tools.patch b/pkgs/by-name/fi/fim/native-tools.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..643e535dbd2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/fi/fim/native-tools.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+diff --git a/doc/Makefile.in b/doc/Makefile.in
+index be8ebe5..13ae676 100644
+--- a/doc/Makefile.in
++++ b/doc/Makefile.in
+@@ -684,7 +684,7 @@ fimgs.man.html: fimgs.man
+ 	if test ! -s $@ ; then $(MAN2TXT) ./$< > $<.txt && $(srcdir)/vim2html.pl tags $<.txt && mv $<.txt.html $@ ; fi
+ 
+ doctags$(EXEEXT): doctags.c
+-	        $(CC) -o $@ $<
++	        @cc_for_build@ -o $@ $<
+ 
+ #clean:
+ #	        $(RM) -f  doctags.o doctags$(EXEEXT) FIM.html tags fim-stylesheet.css fim.man.html fimgs.man.html
+diff --git a/src/Makefile.in b/src/Makefile.in
+index 76f5e1e..027159c 100644
+--- a/src/Makefile.in
++++ b/src/Makefile.in
+@@ -1132,7 +1132,7 @@ help-acm.cpp: fim.h
+ 	$(ECHO) '//#endif' >> $@
+ 
+ b2ba$(EXEEXT): b2ba.c
+-	$(CC) -o $@ $<
++	@cc_for_build@ -o $@ $<
+ 
+ @FIM_WANT_CUSTOM_HARDCODED_CONSOLEFONT_TRUE@@HAVE_RUNNABLE_TESTS_TRUE@default_font_byte_array.h: $(FIM_CUSTOM_HARDCODED_CONSOLEFONT) b2ba$(EXEEXT)
+ @FIM_WANT_CUSTOM_HARDCODED_CONSOLEFONT_TRUE@@HAVE_RUNNABLE_TESTS_TRUE@	./b2ba$(EXEEXT) < $< > $@
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/fi/fim/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/fi/fim/package.nix
index 8e8954f52d50..3a452fac4bda 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/fi/fim/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/fi/fim/package.nix
@@ -4,13 +4,17 @@
   autoconf,
   automake,
   pkg-config,
+  substituteAll,
   lib,
   perl,
   flex,
   bison,
   readline,
   libexif,
-  x11Support ? true,
+  bash,
+  buildPackages,
+  # SDL depends on Qt, which doesn't cross-compile
+  x11Support ? (stdenv.buildPlatform.canExecute stdenv.hostPlatform),
   SDL,
   svgSupport ? true,
   inkscape,
@@ -35,24 +39,33 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "sha256-/p7bjeZM46DJOQ9sgtebhkNpBPj2RJYY3dMXhzHnNmg=";
   };
 
+  patches = [
+    # build tools with a build compiler
+    (substituteAll {
+      src = ./native-tools.patch;
+      cc_for_build = lib.getExe buildPackages.stdenv.cc;
+    })
+  ];
+
   postPatch = ''
-    substituteInPlace doc/vim2html.pl \
-      --replace /usr/bin/perl ${perl}/bin/perl
+    patchShebangs --build doc/vim2html.pl
   '';
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
     autoconf
     automake
+    bison
+    flex
+    perl
     pkg-config
   ];
 
   buildInputs =
     [
-      perl
       flex
-      bison
       readline
       libexif
+      bash
     ]
     ++ lib.optional x11Support SDL
     ++ lib.optional svgSupport inkscape
@@ -62,6 +75,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ++ lib.optional jpegSupport libjpeg
     ++ lib.optional pngSupport libpng;
 
+  configureFlags = [
+    # mmap works on all relevant platforms
+    "ac_cv_func_mmap_fixed_mapped=yes"
+    # system regexp works on all relevant platforms
+    "fim_cv_regex_broken=no"
+  ];
+
+  env.LIBAA_CONFIG = lib.getExe' (lib.getDev aalib) "aalib-config";
+  env.LIBPNG_CONFIG = lib.getExe' (lib.getDev libpng) "libpng-config";
   env.NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = lib.optionalString x11Support "-lSDL";
 
   meta = with lib; {