diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/gr/greetd-mini-wl-greeter/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/gr/greetd-mini-wl-greeter/package.nix
index c26a4e03ac88..0763c6714015 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/gr/greetd-mini-wl-greeter/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/gr/greetd-mini-wl-greeter/package.nix
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   };
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
+    pkg-config
     libGL
     cairo
     glib
@@ -50,7 +51,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   buildInputs = [
     meson
     ninja
-    pkg-config
     scdoc
   ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/li/libnfc-nci/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/li/libnfc-nci/package.nix
index 041b7f5362f1..6e83a6ebf777 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/li/libnfc-nci/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/li/libnfc-nci/package.nix
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     sha256 = "sha256-iSvDiae+A2hUok426Lj5TMn3Q9G+vH1G0jajP48PehQ=";
   };
 
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkg-config ];
   buildInputs = [
-    pkg-config
     autoreconfHook
   ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/pi/picolisp/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/pi/picolisp/package.nix
index e9bfca1a2370..e03b301bcd9f 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/pi/picolisp/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/pi/picolisp/package.nix
@@ -19,13 +19,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sha256 = "sha256-FB43DAjHBFgxdysoLzBXLxii52a2CCh1skZP/RTzfdc=";
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    makeWrapper
+    pkg-config
+  ];
   buildInputs = [
     clang
     libffi
     llvm
     openssl
-    pkg-config
     readline
   ];
   sourceRoot = ''pil21'';
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/te/tetragon/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/te/tetragon/package.nix
index e2e3434cefa5..627042f2084d 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/te/tetragon/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/te/tetragon/package.nix
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   };
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
+    pkg-config
     writableTmpDirAsHomeHook
     gitMinimal
   ];
@@ -31,7 +32,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     clang
     go
     llvm
-    pkg-config
   ];
 
   env = {
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/vp/vpkedit/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/vp/vpkedit/package.nix
index 74caa9220c66..71b20463bff4 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/vp/vpkedit/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/vp/vpkedit/package.nix
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   };
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
+    pkg-config
     cmake
     makeWrapper
     qt6.wrapQtAppsHook
@@ -93,7 +94,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     bzip2
     cryptopp
     openssl
-    pkg-config
     qt6.qtbase
     qt6.qttools
     xz
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/dns/nsd/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/dns/nsd/default.nix
index 9faa3d020832..32920197ce27 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/dns/nsd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/dns/nsd/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
   rrtypes ? false,
   zoneStats ? false,
   withSystemd ? lib.meta.availableOn stdenv.hostPlatform systemdMinimal,
-
   configFile ? "/etc/nsd/nsd.conf",
 }:
 
@@ -36,13 +35,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     substituteInPlace nsd-control-setup.sh.in --replace openssl ${openssl}/bin/openssl
   '';
 
+  nativeBuildInputs = lib.optionals withSystemd [
+    pkg-config
+  ];
+
   buildInputs = [
     libevent
     openssl
   ]
   ++ lib.optionals withSystemd [
     systemdMinimal
-    pkg-config
   ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;