diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/default.nix
index 3d10053d645..745cba31110 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/default.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 , substituteAll
 , fetchFromGitHub
 , meson
+, mesonEmulatorHook
 , ninja
 , pkg-config
 , gettext
@@ -49,6 +50,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ./installed-tests-path.patch
   ];
 
+  strictDeps = true;
+
+  depsBuildBuild = [
+    pkg-config
+  ];
+
   nativeBuildInputs = [
     meson
     ninja
@@ -61,6 +68,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     gobject-introspection
     itstool
     vala
+    gperf
+  ] ++ lib.optional (!stdenv.buildPlatform.canExecute stdenv.hostPlatform) [
+    mesonEmulatorHook
   ];
 
   buildInputs = [
@@ -71,7 +81,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     libxml2
     libxmlb
     libyaml
-    gperf
     curl
   ];