diff --git a/guix/build/utils.scm b/guix/build/utils.scm
index a3446cb617..6de1fa3b1e 100644
--- a/guix/build/utils.scm
+++ b/guix/build/utils.scm
@@ -837,7 +837,7 @@ (define (wrapper-target number)
     (if (zero? number)
         (let ((prog-real (string-append (dirname prog) "/."
                                         (basename prog) "-real")))
-          (copy-file prog prog-real)
+          (rename-file prog prog-real)
           prog-real)
         (wrapper-file-name number)))