diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/ruby-19.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/ruby-19.nix
index 82393fe95c7..d5ccb19caec 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/ruby-19.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/ruby-19.nix
@@ -1,14 +1,52 @@
-{ ruby18, fetchurl }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl
+, zlib, zlibSupport ? true
+, openssl, opensslSupport ? true
+, gdbm, gdbmSupport ? true
+, ncurses, readline, cursesSupport ? false
+, groff, docSupport ? false
+}:
 
-ruby18.override rec {
-  version = "1.9.1-p243";
+let
+  op = stdenv.lib.optional;
+  ops = stdenv.lib.optionals;
+in
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  version = with passthru; "${majorVersion}.${minorVersion}-p${patchLevel}";
+  
   name = "ruby-${version}";
+  
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = "ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.9/ruby-${version}.tar.gz";
-    sha256 = "1r4bls76dg97lqgwkxi6kbxzirkvjm21d4i2qyz469lnncvqwn9i";
+    url = "ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.9/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "0zmxdqzprbdc5mvmba1i94mpqnqxxlh460jri7bx6i29bibigj0w";
   };
 
-  passthru = {
-    libPath = "lib/ruby-1.9";
+  # Have `configure' avoid `/usr/bin/nroff' in non-chroot builds.
+  NROFF = "${groff}/bin/nroff";
+
+  buildInputs = (ops cursesSupport [ ncurses readline ] )
+    ++ (op docSupport groff )
+    ++ (op zlibSupport zlib)
+    ++ (op opensslSupport openssl)
+    ++ (op gdbmSupport gdbm);
+    
+  configureFlags = ["--enable-shared" "--enable-pthread"];
+
+  installFlags = stdenv.lib.optionalString docSupport "install-doc";
+  # Bundler tries to create this directory
+  postInstall = "mkdir -pv $out/${passthru.gemPath}";
+
+  meta = {
+    license = "Ruby";
+    homepage = "http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/";
+    description = "The Ruby language";
+  };
+
+  passthru = rec {
+    majorVersion = "1.9";
+    minorVersion = "2";
+    patchLevel = "290";
+    libPath = "lib/ruby/${majorVersion}";
+    gemPath = "lib/ruby/gems/${majorVersion}";
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index d46ec6f974d..6d6ffa69275 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2600,7 +2600,7 @@ let
   regina = callPackage ../development/interpreters/regina {};
 
   ruby18 = callPackage ../development/interpreters/ruby { };
-  #ruby19 = import ../development/interpreters/ruby/ruby-19.nix { inherit ruby18 fetchurl; };
+  ruby19 = callPackage ../development/interpreters/ruby/ruby-19.nix { };
   ruby = ruby18;
 
   rubyLibs = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ../development/interpreters/ruby/libs.nix { });