diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/2.6/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/2.6/default.nix
index fc1323234ab..ba60f6057c6 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/2.6/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/2.6/default.nix
@@ -8,10 +8,12 @@
 , tcl ? null
 , libX11 ? null
 , xproto ? null
+, arch ? null
 }:
 
 assert zlibSupport -> zlib != null;
 assert gdbmSupport -> gdbm != null;
+assert stdenv.isDarwin -> arch != null;
 
 with stdenv.lib;
 
@@ -30,6 +32,7 @@ let
     ++ optional (tcl != null) tcl
     ++ optional (libX11 != null) libX11
     ++ optional (xproto != null) xproto
+    ++ optional (arch != null) arch
     ;
 
 in
@@ -50,7 +53,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ( {
   inherit buildInputs;
   C_INCLUDE_PATH = concatStringsSep ":" (map (p: "${p}/include") buildInputs);
   LIBRARY_PATH = concatStringsSep ":" (map (p: "${p}/lib") buildInputs);
-  configureFlags = "--enable-shared --with-wctype-functions";
+  configureFlags = ''${if stdenv.isDarwin then "" else " --enable-shared"} --with-wctype-functions'';
 
   preConfigure = ''
     # Purity.
@@ -83,4 +86,4 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ( {
     # platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.allBut "i686-darwin";
     # Re-enabled for 2.6 to see whether the problem still occurs.
   };
-} // (if stdenv.system == "i686-darwin" then { NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-msse2" ; patches = [./search-path.patch ./nolongdouble.patch]; } else {} ) )
+} // (if stdenv.system == "i686-darwin" then { NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-msse2" ; patches = [./search-path.patch]; } else {} ) )
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/2.6/nolongdouble.patch b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/2.6/nolongdouble.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 8fb53da3d49..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/2.6/nolongdouble.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-diff -rc Python-2.5.4/configure Python-2.5.4-new/configure
-*** Python-2.5.4/configure	Sat Dec 13 15:13:52 2008
---- Python-2.5.4-new/configure	Fri Jul 24 16:38:05 2009
-***************
-*** 4534,4540 ****
-  	    ;;
-  	# is there any other compiler on Darwin besides gcc?
-  	Darwin*)
-! 	    BASECFLAGS="$BASECFLAGS -Wno-long-double -no-cpp-precomp -mno-fused-madd"
-  	    if test "${enable_universalsdk}"; then
-  		BASECFLAGS="-arch ppc -arch i386 -isysroot ${UNIVERSALSDK} ${BASECFLAGS}"
-  	    fi
---- 4534,4540 ----
-  	    ;;
-  	# is there any other compiler on Darwin besides gcc?
-  	Darwin*)
-! 	    BASECFLAGS="$BASECFLAGS -no-cpp-precomp -mno-fused-madd"
-  	    if test "${enable_universalsdk}"; then
-  		BASECFLAGS="-arch ppc -arch i386 -isysroot ${UNIVERSALSDK} ${BASECFLAGS}"
-  	    fi
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/arch/builder.sh b/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/arch/builder.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..1fb8be484ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/arch/builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+source $stdenv/setup
+mkdir -p "$out/bin"
+ln -s /usr/bin/arch "$out/bin/"
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/arch/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/arch/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..59d00eaf2d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/arch/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{stdenv}:
+
+assert stdenv.isDarwin;
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "darwin-arch-utility";
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index b32bd089e0f..0ae0e348f0b 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -410,6 +410,9 @@ let
 
   ### TOOLS
 
+  darwinArchUtility = import ../os-specific/darwin/arch {
+    inherit stdenv;
+  };
 
   acct = import ../tools/system/acct {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
@@ -2408,6 +2411,7 @@ let
 
   python26Base = composedArgsAndFun (import ../development/interpreters/python/2.6) {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv zlib bzip2 gdbm;
+    arch = if stdenv.isDarwin then darwinArchUtility else null;
   };
 
   python26Full = python26Base.passthru.function {