diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/qpdfview/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/qpdfview/default.nix
index dfaa90d43adf..263bc37660c9 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/qpdfview/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/qpdfview/default.nix
@@ -21,11 +21,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   src = fetchurl {
     inherit (s) url sha256;
   };
-
-  # TODO: revert this once placeholder is supported
-  preConfigure = ''
-    qmakeFlags="$qmakeFlags *.pro TARGET_INSTALL_PATH=$out/bin PLUGIN_INSTALL_PATH=$out/lib/qpdfview DATA_INSTALL_PATH=$out/share/qpdfview MANUAL_INSTALL_PATH=$out/share/man/man1 ICON_INSTALL_PATH=$out/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps LAUNCHER_INSTALL_PATH=$out/share/applications APPDATA_INSTALL_PATH=$out/share/appdata"
-  '';
+  qmakeFlags = [
+    "*.pro"
+    "TARGET_INSTALL_PATH=${placeholder "out"}/bin"
+    "PLUGIN_INSTALL_PATH=${placeholder "out"}/lib/qpdfview"
+    "DATA_INSTALL_PATH=${placeholder "out"}/share/qpdfview"
+    "MANUAL_INSTALL_PATH=${placeholder "out"}/share/man/man1"
+    "ICON_INSTALL_PATH=${placeholder "out"}/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps"
+    "LAUNCHER_INSTALL_PATH=${placeholder "out"}/share/applications"
+    "APPDATA_INSTALL_PATH=${placeholder "out"}/share/appdata"
+  ];
 
   meta = {
     inherit (s) version;