diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gaia/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gaia/default.nix
index 088354aecb2..47926e2ec0b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gaia/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gaia/default.nix
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 , wafHook
 , makeWrapper
 , qt4
-, pythonPackages
+, pythonPackages ? null
 , pythonSupport ? false
 # Default to false since it breaks the build, see https://github.com/MTG/gaia/issues/11
 , stlfacadeSupport ? false