diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/cryptsetup/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/cryptsetup/default.nix
index 6d612f8cdbdc..0eb4be302841 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/cryptsetup/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/cryptsetup/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, devicemapper, libgcrypt, libuuid, pkgconfig, popt }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, devicemapper, libgcrypt, libuuid, pkgconfig, popt
+, enablePython ? false, python ? null
+}:
+
+assert enablePython -> python != null;
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "cryptsetup-1.5.1";
@@ -8,9 +12,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0dib3nw6ifd7d7hr9k4iyaha3hz0pkzairqa38l3fndkr9w3zlhn";
   };
 
-  configureFlags = "--enable-cryptsetup-reencrypt";
+  configureFlags = [ "--enable-cryptsetup-reencrypt" ]
+                ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePython "--enable-python";
 
-  buildInputs = [ devicemapper libgcrypt libuuid pkgconfig popt ];
+  buildInputs = [ devicemapper libgcrypt libuuid pkgconfig popt ]
+             ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePython python;
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://code.google.com/p/cryptsetup/;