diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/camlp4/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/camlp4/default.nix
index acf1730af1bc..97a769628fe0 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/camlp4/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/camlp4/default.nix
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildInputs = [ which ocaml ocamlbuild ];
 
+  # build fails otherwise
+  enableParallelBuilding = false;
+
   dontAddPrefix = true;
 
   preConfigure = ''