diff --git a/srcpkgs/coreutils/template b/srcpkgs/coreutils/template
index 5c515fcb2fa..063f3db68e2 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/coreutils/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/coreutils/template
@@ -18,11 +18,16 @@ if [ "$CHROOT_READY" ]; then
 fi
 
 pre_configure() {
+	local args
+	case "$XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE" in
+		# XXX syncfs() in src/sync.c expects a return value.
+		*-musl) args=" ac_cv_func_syncfs=no";;
+	esac
 	# Build natively all utils for the host, we need this to generate
 	# the manpages via help2man.
 	if [ "$CROSS_BUILD" ]; then
 		CC=cc LD=ld AR=ar RANLIB=ranlib CFLAGS=-Os CXXFLAGS=-Os LDFLAGS= \
-			./configure --prefix=${wrksrc}/coreutils-${XBPS_MACHINE}
+			./configure --prefix=${wrksrc}/coreutils-${XBPS_MACHINE} ${args}
 		make ${makejobs}
 		make install
 		make distclean