diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/nettle/generic.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/nettle/generic.nix
index 8999b1c2a9a1..3af93469cf16 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/nettle/generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/nettle/generic.nix
@@ -12,18 +12,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
   outputs = [ "out" "dev" ];
   outputBin = "dev";
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ gnum4 buildPackages.stdenv.cc ];
+  depsBuildBuild = [ buildPackages.stdenv.cc ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ gnum4 ];
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ gmp ];
 
-  doCheck = (stdenv.system != "i686-cygwin" && !stdenv.isDarwin && stdenv.buildPlatform == stdenv.hostPlatform);
+  doCheck = (stdenv.system != "i686-cygwin" && !stdenv.isDarwin);
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   patches = stdenv.lib.optional (stdenv.system == "i686-cygwin")
               ./cygwin.patch;
 
-  configureFlags = '' CC_FOR_BUILD=${buildPackages.stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}gcc '';
-
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "Cryptographic library";