diff --git a/sci-calculators/wcalc/files/wcalc-2.5-AR.patch b/sci-calculators/wcalc/files/wcalc-2.5-AR.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..03291019d29ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sci-calculators/wcalc/files/wcalc-2.5-AR.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+--- a/configure.ac
++++ b/configure.ac
+@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ AC_PROG_CC
+ AC_PROG_CC_C99
+ AC_PROG_RANLIB
+ AC_PROG_YACC
++AM_PROG_AR
+ AM_PROG_LEX
+ AS_IF([test "x$LEX" == x],
+ 	  [AC_MSG_ERROR([A Lex/Flex program is required in order to compile wcalc.])],
diff --git a/sci-calculators/wcalc/wcalc-2.5.ebuild b/sci-calculators/wcalc/wcalc-2.5.ebuild
index 9b9a8d8b67a69..f7a5e03f83ee1 100644
--- a/sci-calculators/wcalc/wcalc-2.5.ebuild
+++ b/sci-calculators/wcalc/wcalc-2.5.ebuild
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-# Copyright 1999-2017 Gentoo Foundation
+# Copyright 1999-2020 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
-EAPI=6
+EAPI=7
 
-inherit eutils
+inherit autotools desktop
 
 DESCRIPTION="A flexible command-line scientific calculator"
 HOMEPAGE="http://w-calc.sourceforge.net/"
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@ RDEPEND="
 	readline? ( sys-libs/readline:0= )"
 DEPEND="${RDEPEND}"
 
+PATCHES=( "${FILESDIR}"/${P}-AR.patch )
+
+src_prepare() {
+	default
+	eautoreconf
+}
+
 src_configure() {
 	econf $(use_with readline)
 }