diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/pi/picard/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/pi/picard/package.nix
index e43e39e5a47d..e39f26d4a84e 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/pi/picard/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/pi/picard/package.nix
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ pythonPackages.buildPythonApplication rec {
     pyyaml
   ];
 
-  setupPyGlobalFlags = [ "build" "--disable-autoupdate" "--localedir=$out/share/locale" ];
+  setupPyGlobalFlags = [ "build" "--disable-autoupdate" "--localedir=${placeholder "out"}/share/locale" ];
 
   preCheck = ''
     export HOME=$(mktemp -d)