diff --git a/pkgs/kde/lib/mk-kde-derivation.nix b/pkgs/kde/lib/mk-kde-derivation.nix
index 13f938d69040..0b2ebd8ace7f 100644
--- a/pkgs/kde/lib/mk-kde-derivation.nix
+++ b/pkgs/kde/lib/mk-kde-derivation.nix
@@ -78,11 +78,15 @@ in
     extraNativeBuildInputs ? [],
     extraPropagatedBuildInputs ? [],
     extraCmakeFlags ? [],
+    excludeDependencies ? [],
     ...
   } @ args: let
+    depNames = dependencies.${pname} or [];
+    filteredDepNames = builtins.filter (dep: !(builtins.elem dep excludeDependencies)) depNames;
+
     # FIXME(later): this is wrong for cross, some of these things really need to go into nativeBuildInputs,
     # but cross is currently very broken anyway, so we can figure this out later.
-    deps = map (dep: self.${dep}) (dependencies.${pname} or []);
+    deps = map (dep: self.${dep}) filteredDepNames;
 
     defaultArgs = {
       inherit version src;
@@ -109,6 +113,7 @@ in
       "extraNativeBuildInputs"
       "extraPropagatedBuildInputs"
       "extraCmakeFlags"
+      "excludeDependencies"
       "meta"
     ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/kde/plasma/discover/default.nix b/pkgs/kde/plasma/discover/default.nix
index 2795f3d1414e..d25a4fc6ea9b 100644
--- a/pkgs/kde/plasma/discover/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/kde/plasma/discover/default.nix
@@ -11,4 +11,8 @@ mkKdeDerivation {
 
   extraNativeBuildInputs = [pkg-config];
   extraBuildInputs = [qtwebview discount flatpak fwupd];
+
+  # The PackageKit backend doesn't work for us and causes Discover
+  # to freak out when loading. Disable it to not confuse users.
+  excludeDependencies = ["packagekit-qt"];
 }