diff --git a/pkgs/servers/mail/dovecot/2.0.nix b/pkgs/servers/mail/dovecot/2.0.nix
index a2278533dad8..15215fa06cef 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/mail/dovecot/2.0.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/mail/dovecot/2.0.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sha256 = "03byp6alxxk65qfjjnqp6kcncs5cdiqgskx90nk9kcnynl1h6r33";
   };
 
+  # It will hardcode this for /var/lib/dovecot.
+  # http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=626211
+  configureFlags = [ "--localstatedir=/var" ];
+
   meta = {
     homepage = http://dovecot.org/;
     description = "Open source IMAP and POP3 email server written with security primarily in mind";