diff --git a/pkgs/misc/tex/nix/default.nix b/pkgs/misc/tex/nix/default.nix
index 52345d0f66b..afaaad76075 100644
--- a/pkgs/misc/tex/nix/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/misc/tex/nix/default.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ rec {
     { rootFile
     , generatePDF ? true
     , extraFiles ? []
+    , compressBlanksInIndex ? true
     }:
     
     pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
@@ -15,7 +16,8 @@ rec {
       builder = ./run-latex.sh;
       copyIncludes = ./copy-includes.pl;
       
-      inherit rootFile generatePDF extraFiles;
+      inherit rootFile generatePDF extraFiles
+        compressBlanksInIndex;
 
       includes = import (findLaTeXIncludes {inherit rootFile;});
       
diff --git a/pkgs/misc/tex/nix/run-latex.sh b/pkgs/misc/tex/nix/run-latex.sh
index 9e8edadd48d..ecc6c99f096 100644
--- a/pkgs/misc/tex/nix/run-latex.sh
+++ b/pkgs/misc/tex/nix/run-latex.sh
@@ -56,7 +56,10 @@ echo
 
 if test -f $rootNameBase.idx; then
     echo "MAKING INDEX..."
-    makeindex $rootNameBase.idx
+    if test -n "$compressBlanksInIndex"; then
+        makeindexFlags="$makeindexFlags -c"
+    fi
+    makeindex $makeindexFlags $rootNameBase.idx
     echo
 fi