diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/default.nix
index 1d0b0b28eb29..116fe3c0c20f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/default.nix
@@ -15,8 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   configureFlags = "--with-confdir=/etc/fonts --with-cache-dir=/var/cache/fontconfig --disable-docs --with-default-fonts=";
 
   # We should find a better way to access the arch reliably.
-  crossArch = if (stdenv ? cross && stdenv.cross != null)
-    then stdenv.cross.arch else null;
+  crossArch = stdenv.cross.arch or null;
 
   preConfigure = ''
     if test -n "$crossConfig"; then