diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/pidgin/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/pidgin/default.nix
index 32004496534..bcbc003b3d2 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/pidgin/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/pidgin/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "pidgin-${version}";
-  version = "2.10.10";
+  majorVersion = "2";
+  version = "${majorVersion}.10.10";
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "mirror://sourceforge/pidgin/${name}.tar.bz2";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/pidgin/wrapper.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/pidgin/wrapper.nix
index 0c498dd612e..7e637c767cf 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/pidgin/wrapper.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/pidgin/wrapper.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ drv = buildEnv {
       done
     fi
     wrapProgram $out/bin/pidgin \
-      --suffix-each PURPLE_PLUGIN_PATH ':' "$out/lib/purple-${pidgin.version} $out/lib/pidgin" \
+      --suffix-each PURPLE_PLUGIN_PATH ':' "$out/lib/purple-${pidgin.majorVersion} $out/lib/pidgin" \
       ${toString extraArgs}
   '';
   };