diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openbabel/cmake-time.patch b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openbabel/cmake-time.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bc55894ff6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openbabel/cmake-time.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+diff --git a/src/config.h.cmake b/src/config.h.cmake
+index 1c59c6769..26e5dde94 100644
+--- a/src/config.h.cmake
++++ b/src/config.h.cmake
+@@ -182,8 +182,8 @@
+ #define OB_MODULE_PATH "@OB_MODULE_PATH@"
+ 
+ #ifndef TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME
+-  #ifdef HAVE_SYS_TIME
+-    #ifdef HAVE_TIME
++  #ifdef HAVE_SYS_TIME_H
++    #ifdef HAVE_TIME_H
+       #define TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME 1
+     #else
+       #define TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME 0
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openbabel/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openbabel/package.py
index 65cff9e35c..1d028565aa 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openbabel/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openbabel/package.py
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ class Openbabel(CMakePackage):
     # Convert tabs to spaces. Allows unit tests to pass
     patch("testpdbformat-tabs-to-spaces.patch", when="@:2.4.1")
 
+    # https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/pull/2493
+    patch("cmake-time.patch", when="@3.1.1")
+
     def cmake_args(self):
         spec = self.spec
         args = []