diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 5ca9c1a45ce..cbcf100211b 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@
             # TODO: Remove the darwin check once
             # https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/291814 is available
             ++ lib.optional (stdenv.cc.isClang && !stdenv.buildPlatform.isDarwin) pkgs.buildPackages.bear
-            ++ lib.optional (stdenv.cc.isClang && stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform) pkgs.buildPackages.clang-tools;
+            ++ lib.optional (stdenv.cc.isClang && stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform) (lib.hiPrio pkgs.buildPackages.clang-tools);
 
           buildInputs = attrs.buildInputs or []
             ++ [
diff --git a/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in b/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in
index e1470cf9904..664608305e9 100644
--- a/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in
+++ b/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in
@@ -2,11 +2,6 @@
 <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
 <plist version="1.0">
   <dict>
-    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
-    <dict>
-      <key>OBJC_DISABLE_INITIALIZE_FORK_SAFETY</key>
-      <string>YES</string>
-    </dict>
     <key>Label</key>
     <string>org.nixos.nix-daemon</string>
     <key>KeepAlive</key>
diff --git a/package.nix b/package.nix
index 5c8d9f9b65d..8ab1846679c 100644
--- a/package.nix
+++ b/package.nix
@@ -325,11 +325,6 @@ in {
   preInstallCheck =
     lib.optionalString (! doBuild) ''
       mkdir -p src/nix-channel
-    ''
-    # See https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/2523
-    # Occurs often in tests since https://github.com/NixOS/nix/pull/9900
-    + lib.optionalString stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin ''
-      export OBJC_DISABLE_INITIALIZE_FORK_SAFETY=YES
     '';
 
   separateDebugInfo = !stdenv.hostPlatform.isStatic;
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.cc b/src/libstore/globals.cc
index 8958e699752..b64e73c265b 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.cc
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #include <mutex>
 #include <thread>
 
+#include <curl/curl.h>
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
 
 #ifndef _WIN32
@@ -363,10 +364,21 @@ void initLibStore(bool loadConfig) {
 
     preloadNSS();
 
+    /* Because of an objc quirk[1], calling curl_global_init for the first time
+       after fork() will always result in a crash.
+       Up until now the solution has been to set OBJC_DISABLE_INITIALIZE_FORK_SAFETY
+       for every nix process to ignore that error.
+       Instead of working around that error we address it at the core -
+       by calling curl_global_init here, which should mean curl will already
+       have been initialized by the time we try to do so in a forked process.
+
+       [1] https://github.com/apple-oss-distributions/objc4/blob/01edf1705fbc3ff78a423cd21e03dfc21eb4d780/runtime/objc-initialize.mm#L614-L636
+    */
+    curl_global_init(CURL_GLOBAL_ALL);
+#if __APPLE__
     /* On macOS, don't use the per-session TMPDIR (as set e.g. by
        sshd). This breaks build users because they don't have access
        to the TMPDIR, in particular in ‘nix-store --serve’. */
-#if __APPLE__
     if (hasPrefix(defaultTempDir(), "/var/folders/"))
         unsetenv("TMPDIR");
 #endif
diff --git a/tests/functional/package.nix b/tests/functional/package.nix
index 277711123eb..675cefa6400 100644
--- a/tests/functional/package.nix
+++ b/tests/functional/package.nix
@@ -95,13 +95,6 @@ mkMesonDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     "--print-errorlogs"
   ];
 
-  preCheck =
-    # See https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/2523
-    # Occurs often in tests since https://github.com/NixOS/nix/pull/9900
-    lib.optionalString stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin ''
-      export OBJC_DISABLE_INITIALIZE_FORK_SAFETY=YES
-    '';
-
   doCheck = true;
 
   installPhase = ''
diff --git a/tests/unit/libstore-support/tests/nix_api_store.hh b/tests/unit/libstore-support/tests/nix_api_store.hh
index 193b44970d0..b7d5c2c33f7 100644
--- a/tests/unit/libstore-support/tests/nix_api_store.hh
+++ b/tests/unit/libstore-support/tests/nix_api_store.hh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include "tests/nix_api_util.hh"
 
 #include "file-system.hh"
+#include <filesystem>
 
 #include "nix_api_store.h"
 #include "nix_api_store_internal.h"
@@ -47,7 +48,9 @@ protected:
             if (fs::create_directory(nixDir)) break;
         }
 #else
-        auto tmpl = nix::defaultTempDir() + "/tests_nix-store.XXXXXX";
+        // resolve any symlinks in i.e. on macOS /tmp -> /private/tmp
+        // because this is not allowed for a nix store.
+        auto tmpl = nix::absPath(std::filesystem::path(nix::defaultTempDir()) / "tests_nix-store.XXXXXX", true);
         nixDir = mkdtemp((char *) tmpl.c_str());
 #endif
 
@@ -61,6 +64,10 @@ protected:
         const char ** params[] = {p1, p2, p3, nullptr};
 
         store = nix_store_open(ctx, "local", params);
+        if (!store) {
+            std::string errMsg = nix_err_msg(nullptr, ctx, nullptr);
+            ASSERT_NE(store, nullptr) << "Could not open store: " << errMsg;
+        };
     }
 };
 }