diff --git a/srcpkgs/vlc/template b/srcpkgs/vlc/template
index 09afeba752b..a3c767c07e4 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/vlc/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/vlc/template
@@ -71,8 +71,7 @@ pre_configure() {
 	sed -i -e "s|/usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont|/usr/share/fonts/TTF|" \
 		-e 's,freetype/ftsynth.h,freetype2/ftsynth.h,' \
 		modules/text_renderer/freetype.c
-	_gccver=$(gcc --version|awk '/^gcc / { print $3 }')
-	if [ "${_gccver%%.*}" -gt 5 ]; then
+	if [ ${XBPS_GCC_VERSION_MAJOR} -gt 5 ]; then
 		# Apply the gcc6 patches
 		patch -p1 < ${FILESDIR}/vlc-2.2.4-gcc6_fixes-1.patch
 	fi