diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/notmuch-bower/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/notmuch-bower/default.nix
index 235991396f57..79b553a5dc92 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/notmuch-bower/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/notmuch-bower/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, mercury, pandoc, ncurses, gpgme }:
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, mercury, pandoc, ncurses, gpgme, coreutils, file }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "notmuch-bower";
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ mercury pandoc ];
+  postPatch = ''
+    substituteInPlace src/compose.m --replace 'shell_quoted("base64' 'shell_quoted("${coreutils}/bin/base64'
+    substituteInPlace src/detect_mime_type.m --replace 'shell_quoted("file' 'shell_quoted("${file}/bin/file'
+  '';
 
   buildInputs = [ ncurses gpgme ];