diff --git a/pkgs/applications/version-management/fossil/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/version-management/fossil/default.nix
index ea06107ed7ca..174094dedea4 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/version-management/fossil/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/version-management/fossil/default.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 , tcl
 , libiconv
 , fetchurl
+, buildPackages
 , zlib
 , openssl
 , readline
@@ -23,6 +24,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "1knff50rr8f39myxj50fprb9ya87cslmwz7zzfya56l33r7i7jh3";
   };
 
+  # required for build time tool `./tools/translate.c`
+  depsBuildBuild = [ buildPackages.stdenv.cc ];
+
   nativeBuildInputs = [ installShellFiles tcl tcllib ];
 
   buildInputs = [ zlib openssl readline which ed ]