diff --git a/pkgs/applications/audio/jamin/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/audio/jamin/default.nix
index eea9de5a1597..3511a08682c3 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/audio/jamin/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/audio/jamin/default.nix
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   buildInputs = [ fftwFloat gtk2 ladspaPlugins libjack2 liblo libxml2 makeWrapper ]
     ++ (with perlPackages; [ perl XMLParser ]);
 
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-ldl" ];
+
   postInstall = ''
     wrapProgram $out/bin/jamin --set LADSPA_PATH ${ladspaPlugins}/lib/ladspa
   '';
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/gtkhtml/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/gtkhtml/default.nix
index 8927bd120f61..b4615683939f 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/gtkhtml/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/gtkhtml/default.nix
@@ -15,4 +15,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
   buildInputs = [ gtk intltool GConf enchant isocodes gnome_icon_theme ];
+
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-lgthread-2.0" ];
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/spatialite-tools/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/spatialite-tools/default.nix
index 4ea7de0b1a38..2708e49eb2b6 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/spatialite-tools/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/spatialite-tools/default.nix
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-lsqlite3" ];
+
   meta = {
     description = "A complete sqlite3-compatible CLI front-end for libspatialite";
     homepage = https://www.gaia-gis.it/fossil/spatialite-tools;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/hydra/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/hydra/default.nix
index 00f679cfdac8..67e353868fd6 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/hydra/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/hydra/default.nix
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ in releaseTools.nixBuild rec {
   };
 
   buildInputs =
-    [ makeWrapper autoconf automake libtool unzip nukeReferences pkgconfig sqlite libpqxx
+    [ makeWrapper autoconf automake libtool unzip nukeReferences sqlite libpqxx
       gitAndTools.topGit mercurial darcs subversion bazaar openssl bzip2 libxslt
       guile # optional, for Guile + Guix support
       perlDeps perl nix
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ in releaseTools.nixBuild rec {
       gzip bzip2 lzma gnutar unzip git gitAndTools.topGit mercurial darcs gnused bazaar
     ] ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isLinux [ rpm dpkg cdrkit ] );
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook pkgconfig ];
 
   # adds a patch which ensures compatibility with the API of Nix 2.0.
   # it has been reverted in https://github.com/NixOS/hydra/commit/162d671c48a418bd10a8a171ca36787ef3695a44,
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ in releaseTools.nixBuild rec {
 
   configureFlags = [ "--with-docbook-xsl=${docbook_xsl}/xml/xsl/docbook" ];
 
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-pthread" ];
+
   shellHook = ''
     PATH=$(pwd)/src/script:$(pwd)/src/hydra-eval-jobs:$(pwd)/src/hydra-queue-runner:$(pwd)/src/hydra-evaluator:$PATH
     PERL5LIB=$(pwd)/src/lib:$PERL5LIB;
diff --git a/pkgs/games/exult/default.nix b/pkgs/games/exult/default.nix
index a90e50fac629..58fdaeb8f740 100644
--- a/pkgs/games/exult/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/games/exult/default.nix
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   makeFlags = [ "DESTDIR=$(out)" ];
 
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-lX11" ];
+
   postInstall =
     ''
       mkdir -p $out/share/exult/music
diff --git a/pkgs/games/macopix/default.nix b/pkgs/games/macopix/default.nix
index b490231442e3..2639765c5d15 100644
--- a/pkgs/games/macopix/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/games/macopix/default.nix
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-lX11" ];
+
   meta = {
     description = "Mascot Constructive Pilot for X";
     homepage = http://rosegray.sakura.ne.jp/macopix/index-e.html;