diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/li/lifelines/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/li/lifelines/package.nix
index 8d123c865b2a..a6d2d2a92935 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/li/lifelines/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/li/lifelines/package.nix
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     bison
   ];
 
+  postPatch = ''
+    mkdir -p m4
+  '';
+
   meta = {
     description = "Genealogy tool with ncurses interface";
     homepage = "https://lifelines.github.io/lifelines/";