diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/globalarrays/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/globalarrays/default.nix
index 2da5474eb9d1..6a57ef3a2b9a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/globalarrays/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/globalarrays/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, pkgs, fetchFromGitHub, automake, autoconf, libtool
+{ stdenv, fetchpatch, fetchFromGitHub, automake, autoconf, libtool
 , openblas, gfortran, openssh, openmpi
 } :
 
@@ -15,6 +15,18 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sha256 = "07i2idaas7pq3in5mdqq5ndvxln5q87nyfgk3vzw85r72c4fq5jh";
   };
 
+  # upstream patches for openmpi-4 compatibility
+  patches = [ (fetchpatch {
+    name = "MPI_Type_struct-was-deprecated-in-MPI-2";
+    url = "https://github.com/GlobalArrays/ga/commit/36e6458993b1df745f43b7db86dc17087758e0d2.patch";
+    sha256 = "058qi8x0ananqx980p03yxpyn41cnmm0ifwsl50qp6sc0bnbnclh";
+  })
+  (fetchpatch {
+    name = "MPI_Errhandler_set-was-deprecated-in-MPI-2";
+    url = "https://github.com/GlobalArrays/ga/commit/f1ea5203d2672c1a1d0275a012fb7c2fb3d033d8.patch";
+    sha256 = "06n7ds9alk5xa6hd7waw3wrg88yx2azhdkn3cjs2k189iw8a7fqk";
+  })];
+
   nativeBuildInputs = [ automake autoconf libtool ];
   buildInputs = [ openmpi openblas gfortran openssh ];