diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/groff/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/text/groff/default.nix
index 060e5d5e2c70..243fe8dcab81 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/text/groff/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/groff/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, ghostscript, perl }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, ghostscript, perl, groff }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "groff-1.20.1";
@@ -8,10 +8,19 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "01fq5i68p4s4fc6m8i90y5d28wk1x6zh2mkw85n0qqnb6n0qfidn";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ ghostscript perl ];
+  buildInputs = [ ghostscript ];
+  buildNativeInputs = [ perl ];
 
   doCheck = true;
 
+  crossAttrs = {
+    # Trick to get the build system find the proper 'native' groff
+    # http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-groff@gnu.org/msg01335.html
+    preBuild = ''
+      makeFlags="GROFF_BIN_PATH=${groff}/bin GROFFBIN=${groff}/bin/groff"
+    '';
+  };
+
   meta = {
     description = "GNU Troff, a typesetting package that reads plain text and produces formatted output";