diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/gem.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/gem.nix
index a64f10e268cc..8ec80b785de0 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/gem.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/gem.nix
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ let
         wrapProgram "$prog" \
           --prefix GEM_PATH : "$GEM_PATH" \
           --prefix RUBYLIB : "${rubygems}/lib" \
-          --set RUBYOPT 'rubygems'
+          --set RUBYOPT rubygems \
+          $extraWrapperFlags ''${extraWrapperFlagsArray[@]}
       done
 
       for prog in $out/gems/*/bin/*; do
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/patches.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/patches.nix
index 37f103f7772d..a2d2d753a4af 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/patches.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/patches.nix
@@ -61,4 +61,11 @@ in
     buildInputs = [ jdk ];
     JAVA_HOME = jdk;
   };
+
+  buildr = {
+    # Many Buildfiles rely on RUBYLIB containing the current directory
+    # (as was the default in Ruby < 1.9.2).
+    extraWrapperFlags = "--prefix RUBYLIB : .";
+  };
+  
 }