diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix
index b6c6a6c86445..0b7b882c4f43 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix
@@ -209,7 +209,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (
 
     makeFlags =
       (args.makeFlags or [ ])
-      ++ [ "OBJCOPY=${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}objcopy" ]
+      ++ [
+        "OBJCOPY=${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}objcopy"
+        # zonedir does nothing on NixOS but is important for non-NixOS.
+        # See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/491193
+        "zonedir=/usr/share/zoneinfo"
+      ]
       ++ lib.optionals (stdenv.cc.libc != null) [
         "BUILD_LDFLAGS=-Wl,-rpath,${stdenv.cc.libc}/lib"
         "OBJDUMP=${stdenv.cc.bintools.bintools}/bin/objdump"