diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/5.6.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/5.6.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d7ad5806605
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/5.6.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+args: with args;
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "ncurses-5.6";
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = mirror://gnu/ncurses/ncurses-5.6.tar.gz;
+    sha256 = "1m94axgq3y9c4ld0sba63rls1611fncra49ppijpv8w32srw5jpr";
+  };
+  configureFlags = [ "--with-shared" "--without-normal"
+    "--includedir=\${out}/include" "--without-debug"]
+    ++ (if unicode then ["--enable-widec"] else []);
+  postInstall= if unicode then "
+    chmod -v 644 $out/lib/libncurses++w.a
+    for lib in curses ncurses form panel menu; do
+      echo \"INPUT(-l\${lib}w)\" > $out/lib/lib\${lib}.so
+    done
+    echo \"INPUT(-lncursesw)\" > $out/lib/libcursesw.so
+  " else "
+    chmod -v 644 $out/lib/libncurses++.a
+    echo \"INPUT(-lncurses)\" > $out/lib/libcurses.so
+  ";
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index 49045546975..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, unicode ? true}:
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "ncurses-5.6";
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = mirror://gnu/ncurses/ncurses-5.6.tar.gz;
-    md5 = "b6593abe1089d6aab1551c105c9300e3";
-  };
-  configureFlags="--with-shared --includedir=\${out}/include"+(if unicode then  " --enable-widec " else " ") +" --without-debug";
-  postInstall= if unicode then "
-    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
-      ln -svf lib\${lib}w.so.5 $out/lib/lib\${lib}.so.5
-    done;
-  " else "";
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 2f540339ffc..ac727a2dfa2 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2465,7 +2465,7 @@ rec {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv mysql libtool zlib unixODBC;
   };
 
-  ncurses = import ../development/libraries/ncurses {
+  ncurses = selectVersion ../development/libraries/ncurses "5.6" {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
     unicode = (system != "i686-cygwin");
   };