diff --git a/srcpkgs/ghdl/template b/srcpkgs/ghdl/template
index 632ab2a1977..4229ca3d563 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/ghdl/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/ghdl/template
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ case "$XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE" in
 		fi
 esac
 
+# get around xbps-src's broken 2-pass option eval
+unset subpackages
+
 if [ "$build_option_mcode" ]; then
 	subpackages+=" ghdl-mcode"
 fi