diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index b0e64639d87..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-args:
-args.stdenv.lib.listOfListsToAttrs [
-	[ "recurseForDerivations" true ]
-	[ "0.14.6" (import ./0.14.6.nix args) ]
-	[ "0.15" (import ./0.15.nix args) ]
-	[ "0.16.x" (import ./0.16.x.nix args) ]
-	[ "default" (import ./0.16.x.nix args) ]
-]
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 672a881ced9..87ecc5c31c3 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -1929,12 +1929,12 @@ rec {
     # python / ruby support
   };
 
-  gettext = getVersion "gettext" gettext_alts;
-
-  gettext_alts = import ../development/libraries/gettext {
+  gettextFun = lib.sumArgs (selectVersion ../development/libraries/gettext "0.16.x") {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
   };
 
+  gettext = gettextFun null;
+
   gd = import ../development/libraries/gd {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv zlib libpng freetype libjpeg fontconfig;
   };