diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
index e9fdc638f6ae..f52255f4748b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@
 , enableNoSemanticInterposition ? (!stdenv.cc.isClang || (stdenv.cc.isClang && lib.versionAtLeast stdenv.cc.version "10"))
 # enableLTO is a subset of the enableOptimizations flag that doesn't harm reproducibility.
 # enabling LTO on 32bit arch causes downstream packages to fail when linking
-, enableLTO ? stdenv.is64bit
+# enabling LTO on *-darwin causes python3 to fail when linking.
+, enableLTO ? stdenv.is64bit && stdenv.isLinux
 , reproducibleBuild ? true
 , pythonAttr ? "python${sourceVersion.major}${sourceVersion.minor}"
 }: