diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/misc/golly/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/misc/golly/default.nix
index 81952f1c2ff2..ed983b878d40 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/misc/golly/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/misc/golly/default.nix
@@ -11,13 +11,13 @@
   libX11,
   SDL2,
 }:
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   pname = "golly";
   version = "4.3";
 
   src = fetchurl {
     hash = "sha256-UdJHgGPn7FDN4rYTgfPBAoYE5FGC43TP8OFBmYIqCB0=";
-    url = "mirror://sourceforge/project/golly/golly/golly-${version}/golly-${version}-src.tar.gz";
+    url = "mirror://sourceforge/project/golly/golly/golly-${finalAttrs.version}/golly-${finalAttrs.version}-src.tar.gz";
   };
 
   buildInputs = [
@@ -35,25 +35,40 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     wrapGAppsHook3
   ];
 
+  # fails nondeterministically on darwin
+  enableParallelBuilding = false;
+
   setSourceRoot = ''
     sourceRoot=$(echo */gui-wx)
   '';
 
-  postPatch = ''
-    sed -e 's@PYTHON_SHLIB@${python3}/lib/libpython3.so@' -i wxprefs.cpp
-    ! grep _SHLIB *.cpp
-
-    grep /lib/libpython wxprefs.cpp
-  '';
+  postPatch =
+    ''
+      substituteInPlace wxprefs.cpp \
+        --replace-fail 'PYTHON_SHLIB' '${python3}/lib/libpython3.so'
+    ''
+    + lib.optionalString stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin ''
+      substituteInPlace makefile-gtk \
+        --replace-fail '-Wl,--as-needed' "" \
+        --replace-fail '-lGL ' "" \
+        --replace-fail '-lGLU' ""
+    '';
 
   makeFlags = [
     "-f"
     "makefile-gtk"
     "ENABLE_SOUND=1"
     "GOLLYDIR=${placeholder "out"}/share/golly"
+    "CC=${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}cc"
+    "CXX=${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}c++"
+    "CXXC=${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}c++"
+    "LD=${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}c++"
+    "WX_CONFIG=${lib.getExe' (lib.getDev wxGTK) "wx-config"}"
   ];
 
   installPhase = ''
+    runHook preInstall
+
     mkdir -p "$out/bin"
     cp ../golly ../bgolly "$out/bin"
 
@@ -62,13 +77,19 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
     mkdir -p "$out/share/golly"
     cp -r ../{Help,Patterns,Scripts,Rules} "$out/share/golly"
+
+    runHook postInstall
   '';
 
   meta = {
     description = "Cellular automata simulation program";
-    license = lib.licenses.gpl2;
-    maintainers = [ lib.maintainers.raskin ];
-    platforms = lib.platforms.linux;
+    license = lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
+    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [
+      raskin
+      siraben
+    ];
+    platforms = lib.platforms.unix;
+    homepage = "https://golly.sourceforge.io/";
     downloadPage = "https://sourceforge.net/projects/golly/files/golly";
   };
-}
+})