diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/precice/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/precice/default.nix
index 28b5c3fa85e13..885945599e938 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/precice/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/precice/default.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "-DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR=${python3}/include/${python3.libPrefix}"
   ];
 
-  env.NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = toString (lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [ "-D_GNU_SOURCE" ]);
+  env.NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = toString (
+    lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [ "-D_GNU_SOURCE" ]
+    # libxml2-2.12 changed const qualifiers
+    ++ [ "-fpermissive" ]
+  );
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake gcc ];
   buildInputs = [ boost eigen libxml2 mpi python3 python3.pkgs.numpy ];