diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-cache.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-cache.nix
index 76e89b97617e..1c88235b9257 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-cache.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-cache.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 runCommand "fc-cache"
   rec {
     buildInputs = [ fontconfig.bin ];
+    preferLocalBuild = true;
     passAsFile = [ "fontDirs" ];
     fontDirs = ''
       <!-- Font directories -->
@@ -27,5 +28,5 @@ runCommand "fc-cache"
 
     # This is not a cache dir in the normal sense -- it won't be automatically
     # recreated.
-    rm "$out/CACHEDIR.TAG"
+    rm -f "$out/CACHEDIR.TAG"
   ''