diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
index 31c86c785c2df..1b53afce42ed9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
@@ -2,8 +2,13 @@
 , fetchurl, zlib
 , buildPlatform, hostPlatform, targetPlatform
 , noSysDirs, gold ? true, bison ? null
+  # Which ld implementation to use by default?
+, defaultLd ? null
 }:
 
+assert (builtins.elem defaultLd ["bfd" "gold" null]);
+assert defaultLd == "gold" -> gold;
+
 let
   # Note to whoever is upgrading this: 2.29 is broken.
   # ('nix-build pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.nix -A test' segfaults on aarch64)
@@ -102,7 +107,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "--enable-deterministic-archives"
     "--disable-werror"
     "--enable-fix-loongson2f-nop"
-  ] ++ optionals gold [ "--enable-gold" "--enable-plugins" ];
+  ] ++ optionals gold [ "--enable-gold" "--enable-plugins" ]
+  ++ optional (defaultLd == "gold") "--enable-gold=default";
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 3008f2975eaf3..611c0b6fc5220 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -7158,6 +7158,7 @@ with pkgs;
   binutils-unwrapped = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/binutils {
     # FHS sys dirs presumably only have stuff for the build platform
     noSysDirs = (targetPlatform != buildPlatform) || noSysDirs;
+    defaultLd = config.defaultLd or null;
   };
   binutils-raw = wrapBintoolsWith {
     libc = if targetPlatform != hostPlatform then libcCross else stdenv.cc.libc;
@@ -7167,6 +7168,7 @@ with pkgs;
   binutils_nogold = lowPrio (binutils-raw.override {
     bintools = binutils-raw.bintools.override {
       gold = false;
+      defaultLd = "bfd";
     };
   });