diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/builder.sh b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/builder.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 23091ee306c..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/builder.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-buildinputs=""
-. $stdenv/setup
-
-tar xvfz $src
-cd ncurses-*
-./configure --prefix=$out --with-shared
-make
-make install
-strip -S $out/lib/*.a
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
index 9f52fe66286..894b688bbee 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "ncurses-5.4";
-  builder = ./builder.sh;
   src = fetchurl {
     url = http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/ncurses-5.4.tar.gz;
     md5 = "069c8880072060373290a4fefff43520";
   };
+  configureFlags = "--with-shared";
 }