diff --git a/gnu/packages/commencement.scm b/gnu/packages/commencement.scm
index 511fdd1b68..1e873a4fc5 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/commencement.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/commencement.scm
@@ -2559,7 +2559,15 @@ exec " gcc "/bin/" program
      `(#:tests? #f                            ; the test suite needs diffutils
        #:guile ,%bootstrap-guile
        #:implicit-inputs? #f
-       ,@(package-arguments diffutils)))))
+       ,@(match (%current-system)
+           ((or "arm-linux" "aarch64-linux")
+            (substitute-keyword-arguments (package-arguments diffutils)
+              ((#:configure-flags flags ''())
+               ;; The generated config.status has some problems due to the
+               ;; bootstrap environment.  Disable dependency tracking to work
+               ;; around it.
+               `(cons "--disable-dependency-tracking" ,flags))))
+           (_ '()))))))
 
 (define findutils-boot0
   (package