diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
index 12a40a2d9602..65685d44c75f 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ rec {
         # GHC (=> shellcheck) isn't supported on some platforms (such as risc-v)
         # but we still want to use writeShellApplication on those platforms
         let
-          shellcheckSupported = lib.meta.availableOn stdenv.buildPlatform shellcheck-minimal.compiler;
+          shellcheckSupported = lib.meta.availableOn stdenv.buildPlatform shellcheck-minimal.compiler && (builtins.tryEval shellcheck-minimal.compiler.outPath).success;
           excludeFlags = lib.optionals (excludeShellChecks != [ ]) [ "--exclude" (lib.concatStringsSep "," excludeShellChecks) ];
           shellcheckCommand = lib.optionalString shellcheckSupported ''
             # use shellcheck which does not include docs