diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/default.nix
index c35448066eea..6f1aeefa6758 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, fetchpatch
 , buildPlatform, hostPlatform, autoreconfHook
-, doCheck ? true, dejagnu
+
+# libffi is used in darwin stdenv
+# we cannot run checks within it
+, doCheck ? !stdenv.isDarwin, dejagnu
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {