diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/docs/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/docs/default.nix
index 7e3ff6abbe9..16ade3af3f9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/docs/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/docs/default.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 let
 pythonDocs = {
   html = {
+    recurseForDerivations = true;
     python33 = import ./3.3-html.nix {
       inherit stdenv fetchurl lib;
     };
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ pythonDocs = {
     };
   };
   pdf_a4 = {
+    recurseForDerivations = true;
     python33 = import ./3.3-pdf-a4.nix {
       inherit stdenv fetchurl lib;
     };
@@ -43,6 +45,7 @@ pythonDocs = {
     };
   };
   pdf_letter = {
+    recurseForDerivations = true;
     python33 = import ./3.3-pdf-letter.nix {
       inherit stdenv fetchurl lib;
     };
@@ -63,6 +66,7 @@ pythonDocs = {
     };
   };
   text = {
+    recurseForDerivations = true;
     python33 = import ./3.3-text.nix {
       inherit stdenv fetchurl lib;
     };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/docs/generate.sh b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/docs/generate.sh
index 554bf79e334..bebefc10ccd 100755
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/docs/generate.sh
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/docs/generate.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,11 @@ pythonDocs = {
 EOF
 
 for type in $TYPES; do
-    echo "  ${type/-/_} = {" >> default.nix
+    cat >>default.nix <<EOF
+  ${type/-/_} = {
+    recurseForDerivations = true;
+EOF
+
     for version in $VERSIONS; do
         major=$(echo -n ${version}| cut -d. -f1)
         minor=$(echo -n ${version}| cut -d. -f2)