diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libuv/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libuv/default.nix
index 96d66e18f7c2..db77a6fefc3a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libuv/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libuv/default.nix
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0gna53fgsjjs38kv1g20xfaalv0fk3xncb6abga3saswrv283hx0";
   };
 
+  # these checks are probably network-dependent
+  postPatch = lib.optionalString doCheck ''
+    sed '/getnameinfo_basic/d' -i test/test-list.h
+  '';
+
   buildInputs = [ automake autoconf libtool pkgconfig ]
     ++ stdenv.lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [ ApplicationServices CoreServices ];
 
@@ -20,6 +25,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     LIBTOOLIZE=libtoolize ./autogen.sh
   '';
 
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
+  doCheck = true;
+
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "A multi-platform support library with a focus on asynchronous I/O";
     homepage    = https://github.com/libuv/libuv;