diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gperftools/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gperftools/default.nix
index 8c2feccebb7a..5fa14e64a22f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gperftools/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gperftools/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildInputs = [ unzip ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isLinux libunwind;
 
+  prePatch = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
+    substituteInPlace Makefile.am --replace stdc++ c++
+    substituteInPlace Makefile.in --replace stdc++ c++
+    substituteInPlace libtool --replace stdc++ c++
+  '';
+
   # some packages want to link to the static tcmalloc_minimal
   # to drop the runtime dependency on gperftools
   dontDisableStatic = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/kyotocabinet/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/kyotocabinet/default.nix
index 6c4575b4e9d4..6617816b642b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/kyotocabinet/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/kyotocabinet/default.nix
@@ -8,6 +8,18 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0g6js20x7vnpq4p8ghbw3mh9wpqksya9vwhzdx6dnlf354zjsal1";
   };
 
+  prePatch = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
+    substituteInPlace kccommon.h \
+      --replace tr1/unordered_map unordered_map \
+      --replace tr1/unordered_set unordered_set \
+      --replace tr1::hash std::hash \
+      --replace tr1::unordered_map std::unordered_map \
+      --replace tr1::unordered_set std::unordered_set
+
+    substituteInPlace lab/kcdict/Makefile --replace stdc++ c++
+    substituteInPlace configure --replace stdc++ c++
+  '';
+
   buildInputs = [ zlib ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libpcap/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libpcap/default.nix
index 9ed1aab40346..213dbe50aaf6 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libpcap/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libpcap/default.nix
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     else if stdenv.isDarwin then [ "--with-pcap=bpf" ]
     else [];
 
+  prePatch = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
+    substituteInPlace configure --replace " -arch i386" ""
+  '';
+
   preInstall = ''mkdir -p $out/bin'';
   
   crossAttrs = {
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/snappy/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/snappy/default.nix
index 90469508d0e5..5ae8f5e62521 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/snappy/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/snappy/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   # -DNDEBUG for speed
   configureFlags = [ "CXXFLAGS=-DNDEBUG" ];
 
-  doCheck = true;
+  # SIGILL on darwin
+  doCheck = !stdenv.isDarwin;
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     homepage = http://code.google.com/p/snappy/;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/wiredtiger/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/wiredtiger/default.nix
index 5fe75248e353..347686014d1d 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/wiredtiger/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/wiredtiger/default.nix
@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ./autogen.sh
   '';
 
+  prePatch = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
+    substituteInPlace api/leveldb/leveldb_wt.h --replace \
+      '#include "wiredtiger.h"' \
+      ''$'#include "wiredtiger.h"\n#include "pthread.h"'
+  '';
+
   meta = {
     homepage = http://wiredtiger.com/;
     description = "";
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/nosql/mongodb/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/nosql/mongodb/default.nix
index 81205c92d4cc..318bda2fe442 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/nosql/mongodb/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/nosql/mongodb/default.nix
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ let version = "3.0.4";
     ] ++ optional stdenv.is64bit wiredtiger;
 
     other-args = concatStringsSep " " ([
+      # these are opt-in, lol
+      "--cc-use-shell-environment"
+      "--cxx-use-shell-environment"
+
       "--c++11=on"
       "--ssl"
       #"--rocksdb" # Don't have this packaged yet
@@ -47,6 +51,13 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     # fix environment variable reading
     substituteInPlace SConstruct \
         --replace "env = Environment(" "env = Environment(ENV = os.environ,"
+  '' + stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
+
+    substituteInPlace src/third_party/s2/s1angle.cc --replace drem remainder
+    substituteInPlace src/third_party/s2/s1interval.cc --replace drem remainder
+    substituteInPlace src/third_party/s2/s2cap.cc --replace drem remainder
+    substituteInPlace src/third_party/s2/s2latlng.cc --replace drem remainder
+    substituteInPlace src/third_party/s2/s2latlngrect.cc --replace drem remainder
   '';
 
   buildPhase = ''