diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gobject-introspection/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gobject-introspection/package.py
index 44078d059e2..26e5da3d568 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gobject-introspection/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gobject-introspection/package.py
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ class GobjectIntrospection(Package):
     depends_on("flex", type="build")
     depends_on("pkg-config@0.9.0:", type="build")
 
+    # GobjectIntrospection does not build with sed from darwin:
+    depends_on('sed', when='platform=darwin', type='build')
+
     # This package creates several scripts from
     # toosl/g-ir-tool-template.in.  In their original form these
     # scripts end up with a sbang line like