diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/coan/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/coan/default.nix
index 202109cdbf6..dd3d90e4dd8 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/coan/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/coan/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl, python }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   version = "6.0.1";
@@ -9,10 +9,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "1d041j0nd1hc0562lbj269dydjm4rbzagdgzdnmwdxr98544yw44";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ perl ];
+  # Python is required only by `make check`
+  buildInputs = [ perl python ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
+  doCheck = true;
+
   postInstall = ''
     mv -v $out/share/man/man1/coan.1.{1,gz}
   '';