diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/sr/sratoolkit/attribute_unused.patch b/pkgs/by-name/sr/sratoolkit/attribute_unused.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..203a9921fac6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/sr/sratoolkit/attribute_unused.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+diff --git a/libs/kxml/xml.c b/libs/kxml/xml.c
+index ce445424..41e21612 100644
+--- a/libs/kxml/xml.c
++++ b/libs/kxml/xml.c
+@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ struct s_KNodeNamelist;
+ #include <assert.h>
+ #include <string.h>
+ 
++#ifndef ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED
++#define ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED
++#endif
+ 
+ #define XML_DEBUG(msg) DBGMSG (DBG_XML, DBG_FLAG(DBG_XML_XML), msg)
+ 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/sr/sratoolkit/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/sr/sratoolkit/package.nix
index fa7bd2f17c40..fae32aa5a2b1 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/sr/sratoolkit/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/sr/sratoolkit/package.nix
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     hash = "sha256-OeM4syv9c1rZn2ferrhXyKJu68ywVYwnHoqnviWBZy4=";
   };
 
+  patches = [ ./attribute_unused.patch ];
+
   cmakeFlags = [
     "-DVDB_INCDIR=${ncbi-vdb}/include"
     "-DVDB_LIBDIR=${ncbi-vdb}/lib"