diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix
index 1907a470b68d..fe3b6bd6487e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, libiconvOrLibc, zlib }:
+{stdenv, fetchurl, zlib, python ? null, pythonSupport ? true }:
+
+assert pythonSupport -> python != null;
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "libxml2-2.7.7";
@@ -8,11 +10,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sha256 = "03kkknm7xl77qfdig8mzalsi8ljsyblzin18gy3h8zranffrpyzs";
   };
 
-  propagatedBuildInputs = [ libiconvOrLibc zlib ];
+  configureFlags = ''                                                  
+    ${if pythonSupport then "--with-python=${python}" else ""}         
+  '';
+  
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [zlib];
 
   setupHook = ./setup-hook.sh;
 
-  passthru = { libiconv = libiconvOrLibc; };
+  passthru = {inherit pythonSupport;};
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://xmlsoft.org/;
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 685372487102..30f2532abdd3 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -4234,9 +4234,13 @@ let
 
   libxmi = callPackage ../development/libraries/libxmi { };
 
-  libxml2 = callPackage ../development/libraries/libxml2 { };
+  libxml2 = callPackage ../development/libraries/libxml2 {
+    pythonSupport = false;
+  };
 
-  libxml2Python = pythonPackages.libxml2;
+  libxml2Python = libxml2.override {
+    pythonSupport = true;
+  };
 
   libxmlxx = callPackage ../development/libraries/libxmlxx {
     inherit (gtkLibs) glibmm;
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 49e3901aa7be..b8d26e94a9a2 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -665,35 +665,6 @@ let pythonPackages = python.modules // rec {
   });
 
 
-  libxml2 = buildPythonPackage (rec {
-    name = pkgs.libxml2.name;
-    src = pkgs.libxml2.src;
-
-    buildInputs = [ python ];
-    propagatedBuildInputs = [ pkgs.libxml2 ];
-
-    configureFlags = "--with-python=${python}";
-
-    postConfigure = ''
-      cd python
-      sed -i setup.py \
-          -e "s:^ROOT.*:ROOT = r'${pkgs.libxml2}':" \
-          -e "s:^iconv_includes.*:iconv_includes= r'${pkgs.libxml2.libiconv}':"
-    '';
-
-    # has no tests
-    doCheck = false;
-
-    passthru = { lib = pkgs.libxml2; };
-
-    meta = {
-      homepage = http://xmlsoft.org/;
-      description = "Python bindings for libxml2";
-      license = "bsd";
-    };
-  });
-
-
   lockfile = buildPythonPackage rec {
     name = "lockfile-0.9.1";