diff --git a/nixos/modules/config/fonts/fontconfig.nix b/nixos/modules/config/fonts/fontconfig.nix
index 1f1044bc5af..2e8c4624414 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/config/fonts/fontconfig.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/config/fonts/fontconfig.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
 
-Configuration files are linked to /etc/fonts/${pkgs.fontconfig.configVersion}/conf.d/
+Configuration files are linked to /etc/fonts/conf.d/
 
 This module generates a package containing configuration files and link it in /etc/fonts.
 
@@ -176,15 +176,16 @@ let
   confPkg = pkgs.runCommand "fontconfig-conf" {
     preferLocalBuild = true;
   } ''
-    dst=$out/etc/fonts/${pkg.configVersion}/conf.d
+    dst=$out/etc/fonts/conf.d
     mkdir -p $dst
 
     # fonts.conf
     ln -s ${pkg.out}/etc/fonts/fonts.conf \
           $dst/../fonts.conf
     # TODO: remove this legacy symlink once people stop using packages built before #95358 was merged
-    ln -s /etc/fonts/${pkg.configVersion}/fonts.conf \
-          $out/etc/fonts/fonts.conf
+    mkdir -p $out/etc/fonts/2.11
+    ln -s /etc/fonts/fonts.conf \
+          $out/etc/fonts/2.11/fonts.conf
 
     # fontconfig default config files
     ln -s ${pkg.out}/etc/fonts/conf.d/*.conf \
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/config-compat.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/config-compat.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index e86f08fb553..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/config-compat.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-commit 05c6adf8104b4321d3a3716a7b9feb6bf223ed0c (HEAD, nixpkgs)
-Author: Vladimír Čunát <vcunat@gmail.com>
-Date:   Tue Nov 4 12:24:25 2014 +0100
-
-    add check for /etc/fonts/@configVersion@/fonts.conf
-    
-    It's checked between FONTCONFIG_FILE and the usual /etc/fonts/fonts.conf.
-    Also, hardcode /etc/fonts/fonts.conf to prevent accidental override.
-
-diff --git a/src/fccfg.c b/src/fccfg.c
-index 6377fd7..e9eb10a 100644
---- a/src/fccfg.c
-+++ b/src/fccfg.c
-@@ -2070,8 +2070,13 @@ FcConfigFilename (const FcChar8 *url)
-     if (!url || !*url)
-     {
- 	url = (FcChar8 *) getenv ("FONTCONFIG_FILE");
-+	if (!url) {
-+	    static const FcChar8 *cfPath = "/etc/fonts/@configVersion@/fonts.conf";
-+	    if (access (cfPath, R_OK) == 0)
-+		url = cfPath;
-+	}
- 	if (!url)
--	    url = (FcChar8 *) FONTCONFIG_FILE;
-+	    url = (FcChar8 *) "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf";
-     }
-     file = 0;
- 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/default.nix
index ab7340be559..72df121200e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/default.nix
@@ -11,20 +11,6 @@
 , autoreconfHook
 }:
 
-/** Font configuration scheme
- - ./config-compat.patch makes fontconfig try the following root configs, in order:
-    $FONTCONFIG_FILE, /etc/fonts/${configVersion}/fonts.conf, /etc/fonts/fonts.conf
-    This is done not to override config of pre-2.11 versions (which just blow up)
-    and still use *global* font configuration at both NixOS or non-NixOS.
- - NixOS creates /etc/fonts/${configVersion}/fonts.conf link to $out/etc/fonts/fonts.conf,
-    and other modifications should go to /etc/fonts/${configVersion}/conf.d
- - See ./make-fonts-conf.xsl for config details.
-
-*/
-
-let
-  configVersion = "2.11"; # bump whenever fontconfig breaks compatibility with older configurations
-in
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "fontconfig";
   version = "2.13.92";
@@ -35,11 +21,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   patches = [
-    (substituteAll {
-      src = ./config-compat.patch;
-      inherit configVersion;
-    })
-
     # Fix fonts not being loaded when missing included configs that have ignore_missing="yes".
     # https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1744377
     (fetchpatch {
@@ -72,6 +53,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       url = "https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig/commit/37c7c748740bf6f2468d59e67951902710240b34.patch";
       sha256 = "1rz5zrfwhpn9g49wrzzrmdglj78pbvpnw8ksgsw6bxq8l5d84jfr";
     })
+
+    # Show warning instead of error when encountering unknown attribute in config.
+    # https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig/merge_requests/111
+    (fetchpatch {
+      url = "https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig/commit/409b37c62780728755c908991c912a6b16f2389c.patch";
+      sha256 = "zJFh37QErSAINPGFkFVJyhYRP27BuIN7PIgoDl/PIwI=";
+    })
   ];
 
   outputs = [ "bin" "dev" "lib" "out" ]; # $out contains all the config
@@ -92,6 +80,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ];
 
   configureFlags = [
+    "--sysconfdir=/etc"
     "--with-arch=${stdenv.hostPlatform.parsed.cpu.name}"
     "--with-cache-dir=/var/cache/fontconfig" # otherwise the fallback is in $out/
     "--disable-docs"
@@ -105,23 +94,22 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   doCheck = true;
 
-  # Don't try to write to /var/cache/fontconfig at install time.
-  installFlags = [ "fc_cachedir=$(TMPDIR)/dummy" "RUN_FC_CACHE_TEST=false" ];
+  installFlags = [
+    # Don't try to write to /var/cache/fontconfig at install time.
+    "fc_cachedir=$(TMPDIR)/dummy"
+    "RUN_FC_CACHE_TEST=false"
+    "sysconfdir=${placeholder "out"}/etc"
+  ];
 
   postInstall = ''
     cd "$out/etc/fonts"
     xsltproc --stringparam fontDirectories "${dejavu_fonts.minimal}" \
-      --stringparam fontconfigConfigVersion "${configVersion}" \
       --path $out/share/xml/fontconfig \
       ${./make-fonts-conf.xsl} $out/etc/fonts/fonts.conf \
       > fonts.conf.tmp
     mv fonts.conf.tmp $out/etc/fonts/fonts.conf
   '';
 
-  passthru = {
-    inherit configVersion;
-  };
-
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "A library for font customization and configuration";
     homepage = "http://fontconfig.org/";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.nix
index b18d72e0a22..2f82c5032ab 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.nix
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ runCommand "fonts.conf"
   ''
     xsltproc --stringparam fontDirectories "$fontDirectories" \
       --stringparam fontconfig "${fontconfig.out}" \
-      --stringparam fontconfigConfigVersion "${fontconfig.configVersion}" \
       --path ${fontconfig.out}/share/xml/fontconfig \
       ${./make-fonts-conf.xsl} ${fontconfig.out}/etc/fonts/fonts.conf \
       > $out
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.xsl b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.xsl
index 74abb9cffaf..4edccfb79e1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.xsl
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.xsl
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 
   <xsl:param name="fontDirectories" />
   <xsl:param name="fontconfig" />
-  <xsl:param name="fontconfigConfigVersion" />
 
   <xsl:template match="/fontconfig">
 
@@ -28,8 +27,8 @@
       <!-- /var/cache/fontconfig is useful for non-nixos systems -->
       <cachedir>/var/cache/fontconfig</cachedir>
 
-      <!-- versioned system-wide config -->
-      <include ignore_missing="yes">/etc/fonts/<xsl:value-of select="$fontconfigConfigVersion" />/conf.d</include>
+      <!-- system-wide config -->
+      <include ignore_missing="yes">/etc/fonts/conf.d</include>
 
       <dir prefix="xdg">fonts</dir>
       <xsl:for-each select="str:tokenize($fontDirectories)">