diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/xdaliclock/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/xdaliclock/default.nix
index 33c9489a70d..63b6cb66883 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/xdaliclock/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/xdaliclock/default.nix
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "194zzp1a989k2v8qzfr81gdknr8xiz16d6fdl63jx9r3mj5klmvb";
   };
 
-  sourceRoot = "${name}/X11";
+  # Note: don't change this to set sourceRoot, or updateAutotoolsGnuConfigScriptsHook
+  # on aarch64 doesn't find the files to patch and the aarch64 build fails!
+  preConfigure = "cd X11";
 
   buildInputs = [ libX11 xproto libXt libICE libSM libXext ];