diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/2.x.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/2.x.nix
index 071ad9332914..019c154a6b76 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/2.x.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/2.x.nix
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0c9li3iaslzzr3zig6m3zlmb4r8i0wfvkcrvdyiqxasb09mjkqh8";
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ m4 ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional doCheck perl;
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ m4 ];
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ m4 ];
+  checkInputs = [ perl ];
 
   patches = lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin ./darwin-vasnprintf.patch;