diff --git a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/bin.nix b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/bin.nix
index 34a689ee9bd6..30979e312fc5 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/bin.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/bin.nix
@@ -187,6 +187,7 @@ core-big = stdenv.mkDerivation { #TODO: upmendex
   '';
 
   preBuild = "cd texk/web2c";
+  CXXFLAGS = "-std=c++11 -Wno-reserved-user-defined-literal"; # TODO: remove once texlive 2017 is out?
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   # now distribute stuff into outputs, roughly as upstream TL