diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/goffice/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/goffice/default.nix
index 1eaa1baf86d6..14da5f3468b4 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/goffice/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/goffice/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "165070beb67b84580afe80a8a100b674a81d553ab791acd72ac0c655f4fadb15";
   };
 
+  # fix linking error: undefined reference to pcre_info
+  patches = [ ./pcre_info.patch ]; # inspired by https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=60986
+
   buildInputs = [
     pkgconfig libglade bzip2 libart intltool gettext
     gconf libgnomeui pcre
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/goffice/pcre_info.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/goffice/pcre_info.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cd4ef3c9fed7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/goffice/pcre_info.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+diff --git a/goffice/utils/regutf8.c b/goffice/utils/regutf8.c
+index bc4aae4..3adb696 100644
+--- a/goffice/utils/regutf8.c
++++ b/goffice/utils/regutf8.c
+@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ go_regcomp (GORegexp *gor, const char *pat, int cflags)
+ 		default: return GO_REG_BADPAT;
+ 		}
+ 	} else {
+-		gor->re_nsub = pcre_info (r, NULL, NULL);
++		gor->re_nsub = pcre_fullinfo (r, NULL, NULL, NULL);
+ 		gor->nosub = (cflags & GO_REG_NOSUB) != 0;
+ 		return 0;
+ 	}