diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/alsa-lib/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/alsa-lib/default.nix
index aaa714d8d590..5ebf52644398 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/alsa-lib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/alsa-lib/default.nix
@@ -39,5 +39,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
        See http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.nixos/3435
     */
     ./alsa-plugin-dirs.patch
+
+    /* patch provided by larsc on irc.
+       it may be a compiler problem on mips; without this, alsa does not build
+       on mips, because lacks some symbols atomic_add/atomic_sub  */
+    ./mips-atomic.patch
   ];
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/alsa-lib/mips-atomic.patch b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/alsa-lib/mips-atomic.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3af7c5d4debf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/alsa-lib/mips-atomic.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+diff --git a/include/iatomic.h b/include/iatomic.h
+index e92dbfd..364bc5c 100644
+--- a/include/iatomic.h
++++ b/include/iatomic.h
+@@ -720,7 +720,7 @@ typedef struct { volatile int counter; } atomic_t;
+  * Atomically adds @i to @v.  Note that the guaranteed useful range
+  * of an atomic_t is only 24 bits.
+  */
+-extern __inline__ void atomic_add(int i, atomic_t * v)
++static __inline__ void atomic_add(int i, atomic_t * v)
+ {
+ 	unsigned long temp;
+ 
+@@ -744,7 +744,7 @@ extern __inline__ void atomic_add(int i, atomic_t * v)
+  * Atomically subtracts @i from @v.  Note that the guaranteed
+  * useful range of an atomic_t is only 24 bits.
+  */
+-extern __inline__ void atomic_sub(int i, atomic_t * v)
++static __inline__ void atomic_sub(int i, atomic_t * v)
+ {
+ 	unsigned long temp;
+ 
+@@ -763,7 +763,7 @@ extern __inline__ void atomic_sub(int i, atomic_t * v)
+ /*
+  * Same as above, but return the result value
+  */
+-extern __inline__ int atomic_add_return(int i, atomic_t * v)
++static __inline__ int atomic_add_return(int i, atomic_t * v)
+ {
+ 	unsigned long temp, result;
+ 
+@@ -784,7 +784,7 @@ extern __inline__ int atomic_add_return(int i, atomic_t * v)
+ 	return result;
+ }
+ 
+-extern __inline__ int atomic_sub_return(int i, atomic_t * v)
++static __inline__ int atomic_sub_return(int i, atomic_t * v)
+ {
+ 	unsigned long temp, result;