diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/builder.sh b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/builder.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index ef8ed7d6f07..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/builder.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-source $stdenv/setup
-
-configureFlags="--with-shared --includedir=$out/include"
-
-genericBuild
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
index 78dfd0f9e2c..34e5735ba1e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
@@ -2,9 +2,17 @@
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "ncurses-5.6";
-  builder = ./builder.sh;
   src = fetchurl {
     url = ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/gnu/ncurses/ncurses-5.6.tar.gz;
     md5 = "b6593abe1089d6aab1551c105c9300e3";
   };
+  configureFlags="--with-shared --includedir=\${out}/include --enable-widec --without-debug";
+  postInstall="
+    chmod -v 644 $out/lib/libncurses++w.a
+    for lib in curses ncurses form panel menu; do
+      rm -vf $out/lib/lib\${lib}.so
+      echo \"INPUT(-l\${lib}w)\" > $out/lib/lib\${lib}.so
+      ln -svf lib\${lib}w.a $out/lib/lib\${lib}.a
+    done;
+  ";
 }