diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/sylpheed-gtk2/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/sylpheed-gtk2/default.nix
index 8996e14dc98..e82f0f4bfd9 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/sylpheed-gtk2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/sylpheed-gtk2/default.nix
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 assert sslSupport -> openssl != null;
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "sylpheed-1.9.11";
+  name = "sylpheed-2.1.3";
 
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = http://sylpheed.good-day.net/sylpheed/v1.9/sylpheed-1.9.11.tar.bz2;
-    md5 = "70191d0d98ea576b0d2e175055ced4c9";
+    url = http://sylpheed.good-day.net/sylpheed/v2.1/sylpheed-2.1.3.tar.bz2;
+    md5 = "57f874501c5b0e52b8ec1959fe0359be";
   };
 
   buildInputs = [
@@ -20,4 +20,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   configureFlags = [
     (if sslSupport then "--enable-ssl" else null)
   ];
+
+  # Bug in Sylpheed: it makes direct X11 calls (e.g., XSync), but it
+  # doesn't pass -lX11.  The linker finds the missing symbols
+  # indirectly (through GTK etc.), but doesn't include libX11.so in
+  # the RPATH.  Thus, the executable fails at runtime.
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lX11";
 }