diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/set-java-classpath.sh b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/set-java-classpath.sh
index 5d3548dc2e8..445fa56d61d 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/set-java-classpath.sh
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/set-java-classpath.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ export CLASSPATH
 addPkgToClassPath () {
     local jar
     for jar in $1/share/java/*.jar; do
-        export CLASSPATH=''${CLASSPATH}''${CLASSPATH:+:}''${jar}
+        export CLASSPATH=''${CLASSPATH-}''${CLASSPATH:+:}''${jar}
     done
 }