diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/rs/rsync/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/rs/rsync/package.nix
index a102ff36cc15..cdeec0aac5a8 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/rs/rsync/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/rs/rsync/package.nix
@@ -85,6 +85,14 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   ++ lib.optionals (stdenv.hostPlatform.isMusl && stdenv.hostPlatform.isx86_64) [
     # fix `multiversioning needs 'ifunc' which is not supported on this target` error
     "--disable-roll-simd"
+  ]
+  # Linux can hard-link symlinks; configure defaults this check to "no" when
+  # cross-compiling (e.g. pkgsStatic) because it cannot run the probe.
+  # That leaves hardlink_symlinks false while itemize still reports identical
+  # --copy-dest/--link-dest symlinks with blank attribute flags, so
+  # testsuite/itemize.test fails (https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/537437).
+  ++ lib.optionals (stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux && stdenv.hostPlatform != stdenv.buildPlatform) [
+    "rsync_cv_can_hardlink_symlink=yes"
   ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;