diff --git a/pkgs/tools/system/setserial/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/system/setserial/default.nix
index a35c0d249185..2efd0baed894 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/system/setserial/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/system/setserial/default.nix
@@ -1,33 +1,24 @@
-a @ { groff, ... } :
-let
-  fetchurl = a.fetchurl;
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, groff }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "setserial-${version}";
+  version = "2.17";
 
-  version = a.lib.attrByPath ["version"] "2.17" a;
-  buildInputs = with a; [
-    groff
-  ];
-in
-rec {
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = "mirror://sourceforge/setserial/setserial-${version}.tar.gz";
+    url = "mirror://sourceforge/setserial/${name}.tar.gz";
     sha256 = "0jkrnn3i8gbsl48k3civjmvxyv9rbm1qjha2cf2macdc439qfi3y";
   };
 
-  inherit buildInputs;
-  configureFlags = [];
+  buildInputs = [ groff ];
 
-  installFlags = "DESTDIR=$out";
+  installFlags = ''DESTDIR=$(out)'';
 
-  /* doConfigure should be removed if not needed */
-  phaseNames = ["doConfigure" "patchPath" "doMakeInstall"];
-
-  patchPath = a.fullDepEntry (''
+  postConfigure = ''
     sed -e s@/usr/man/@/share/man/@ -i Makefile
-  '') ["minInit" "doUnpack" "doConfigure"];
+  '';
 
-  neededDirs = ["$out/bin" "$out/share/man/man8"];
+  preInstall = ''mkdir -p "$out/bin" "$out/share/man/man8"'';
 
-  name = "setserial-" + version;
   meta = {
     description = "Serial port configuration utility";
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index d84ac49021b4..587836edd1ca 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2972,7 +2972,7 @@ let
 
   seccure = callPackage ../tools/security/seccure { };
 
-  setserial = builderDefsPackage (callPackage ../tools/system/setserial) { };
+  setserial = callPackage ../tools/system/setserial { };
 
   seqdiag = pythonPackages.seqdiag;