diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/blas/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/blas/default.nix
index 22eced7d070f..eeaf28aec3c3 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/blas/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/blas/default.nix
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   buildInputs = [gfortran];
 
   configurePhase = ''
-    echo >make.inc  "SHELL = ${stdenv.bash}/bin/bash"
+    echo >make.inc  "SHELL = ${stdenv.shell}"
     echo >>make.inc "PLAT = _LINUX"
     echo >>make.inc "FORTRAN = gfortran"
     echo >>make.inc "OPTS = -O2 -fPIC"
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/liblapack/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/liblapack/default.nix
index 0c15834f3830..240d13105f85 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/liblapack/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/liblapack/default.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   patches = [ ./blas-link.patch ];
 
   configurePhase = ''
-    echo >make.inc  "SHELL = ${stdenv.bash}/bin/bash"
+    echo >make.inc  "SHELL = ${stdenv.shell}"
     echo >>make.inc "PLAT ="
     echo >>make.inc "FORTRAN = gfortran"
     echo >>make.inc "OPTS = -O2 -fPIC"
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/scmccid/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/scmccid/default.nix
index 32c4fe3de897..62c541ef7bab 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/scmccid/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/scmccid/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 {stdenv, fetchurl, patchelf, libusb}:
 
+assert stdenv ? gcc;
+
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "scmccid-5.0.11";