diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
index 1a788ae642ea26..60a4e28609e5fb 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
@@ -244,7 +244,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ({
         configureFlags+=" --extra-lib-dirs=$p/lib"
       fi
     done
-  '' + (optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
+  ''
+  # only use the links hack if we're actually building dylibs. otherwise, the
+  # "dynamic-library-dirs" point to nonexistent paths, and the ln command becomes
+  # "ln -s $out/lib/links", which tries to recreate the links dir and fails
+  + (optionalString (stdenv.isDarwin && enableSharedLibraries) ''
     # Work around a limit in the macOS Sierra linker on the number of paths
     # referenced by any one dynamic library:
     #