diff --git a/doc/release-notes/rl-2511.section.md b/doc/release-notes/rl-2511.section.md
index 081daf8cbdb7..21019846c89b 100644
--- a/doc/release-notes/rl-2511.section.md
+++ b/doc/release-notes/rl-2511.section.md
@@ -172,6 +172,8 @@
 
 - `neovimUtils.makeNeovimConfig` now uses `customLuaRC` parameter instead of accepting `luaRcContent`. The old usage is deprecated but still works with a warning.
 
+- `python3Packages.pyocr` no longer supports `cuneiform` on Linux by default. It is still possible to enable it using `withCuneiformSupport` override.
+
 - `telegram-desktop` packages now uses `Telegram` for its binary. The previous name was `telegram-desktop`. This is due to [an upstream decision](https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/commit/56ff5808a3d766f892bc3c3305afb106b629ef6f) to make the name consistent with other platforms.
 
 - `hsd` has been upgraded to version 8. See [their changelog](https://github.com/handshake-org/hsd/blob/v8.0.0/docs/release-notes/release-notes-8.x.md) for important instructions before upgrading.
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/cu/cuneiform/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/cu/cuneiform/package.nix
index 2a677a51923b..01ede4ac0d3b 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/cu/cuneiform/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/cu/cuneiform/package.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
   testers,
 }:
 
+# Deprecated: unmaintained, no consumers in nixpkgs as of 2025-10-05, and doesn't compile with gcc 15.
 stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   pname = "cuneiform";
   version = "1.1.0";
@@ -36,6 +37,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   postPatch = ''
     rm cuneiform_src/Kern/hhh/tigerh/h/strings.h
+    substituteInPlace CMakeLists.txt --replace-fail \
+      'cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.6.2)' \
+      'cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)'
   '';
 
   # make the install path match the rpath
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyocr/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyocr/default.nix
index 8305e308918e..4065747bbd18 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyocr/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyocr/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
   setuptools,
   setuptools-scm,
   withTesseractSupport ? true,
-  withCuneiformSupport ? stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux,
+  withCuneiformSupport ? false,
 }:
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
         tesseractLibraryLocation = "${tesseract}/lib/libtesseract${stdenv.hostPlatform.extensions.sharedLibrary}";
       }
     ))
-    ++ (lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux (
+    ++ (lib.optional withCuneiformSupport (
       replaceVars ./paths-cuneiform.patch {
         inherit cuneiform;
       }