diff --git a/tools/niminst/buildsh.tmpl b/tools/niminst/buildsh.tmpl
index 60a06c93f8..e2e2d5ab5e 100755
--- a/tools/niminst/buildsh.tmpl
+++ b/tools/niminst/buildsh.tmpl
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ case $uos in
     ;;
   *darwin* ) 
     myos="macosx"
+    CC="clang"
+    LINKER="clang"
     LINK_FLAGS="$LINK_FLAGS -ldl -lm"
     if [ "$HOSTTYPE" = "x86_64" ] ; then
       ucpu="amd64"