diff --git a/buildout/software-profiles/cyrus-sasl.cfg b/buildout/software-profiles/cyrus-sasl.cfg
index b94b9008f06cad93b9007fc3a20e77ce3cfc5bc7..3065188e85cb35ca3078b875dc2e4d3fe5f17e5f 100644
--- a/buildout/software-profiles/cyrus-sasl.cfg
+++ b/buildout/software-profiles/cyrus-sasl.cfg
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ configure-options =
   --with-bdb-libdir=${libdb:location}/lib
   --with-bdb-incdir=${libdb:location}/include
   --with-gdbm=${gdbm:location}
+# it seems that parallel build sometimes fails.
+make-options =
+  -j1
 
 keep-compile-dir = True