diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/GConf/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/GConf/default.nix
index 4769247a5162..847983e2c491 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/GConf/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/GConf/default.nix
@@ -9,10 +9,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sha256 = "09ch709cb9fniwc4221xgkq0jf0x0lxs814sqig8p2dcll0llvzk";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ ORBit2 dbus_libs dbus_glib libxml2 polkit gtk ];
+  buildInputs = [ ORBit2 dbus_libs dbus_glib libxml2 gtk ]
+    # polkit requires pam, which requires shadow.h, which is not available on
+    # darwin
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional (!stdenv.isDarwin) polkit;
+
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ glib ];
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig intltool ];
 
-  configureFlags = "--with-gtk=2.0";
+  configureFlags = [ "--with-gtk=2.0" ]
+    # fixes the "libgconfbackend-oldxml.so is not portable" error on darwin
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin [ "--enable-static" ];
 }