diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/xournal/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/graphics/xournal/default.nix
index 9c93b9d7317b..53d0473638a8 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/graphics/xournal/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/graphics/xournal/default.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl
 , ghostscript, atk, gtk, glib, fontconfig, freetype
 , libgnomecanvas, libgnomeprint, libgnomeprintui
-, pango, libX11, xproto, zlib, poppler, poppler_data
+, pango, libX11, xproto, zlib, poppler
 , autoconf, automake, libtool, pkgconfig}:
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   version = "0.4.8";
@@ -14,12 +14,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [
     ghostscript atk gtk glib fontconfig freetype
     libgnomecanvas libgnomeprint libgnomeprintui
-    pango libX11 xproto zlib poppler poppler_data
+    pango libX11 xproto zlib poppler
   ];
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ autoconf automake libtool pkgconfig ];
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS="-lX11 -lz";
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-lX11" "-lz" ];
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://xournal.sourceforge.net/;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/poppler/datadir_env.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/poppler/datadir_env.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index fd111d713552..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/poppler/datadir_env.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-diff --git a/poppler/GlobalParams.cc b/poppler/GlobalParams.cc
-index 2e11bb0..a277ab9 100644
---- a/poppler/GlobalParams.cc
-+++ b/poppler/GlobalParams.cc
-@@ -748,7 +748,7 @@ GlobalParams::GlobalParams(const char *customPopplerDataDir)
- void GlobalParams::scanEncodingDirs() {
-   GDir *dir;
-   GDirEntry *entry;
--  const char *dataRoot = popplerDataDir ? popplerDataDir : POPPLER_DATADIR;
-+  const char *dataRoot = popplerDataDir ? popplerDataDir : ( getenv("POPPLER_DATADIR") ? getenv("POPPLER_DATADIR") : POPPLER_DATADIR );
-   
-   // allocate buffer large enough to append "/nameToUnicode"
-   size_t bufSize = strlen(dataRoot) + strlen("/nameToUnicode") + 1;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/poppler/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/poppler/default.nix
index 9e8817c6ea7f..097031d54f13 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/poppler/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/poppler/default.nix
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 { stdenv, lib, fetchurl, fetchpatch, pkgconfig, libiconv, libintlOrEmpty
 , zlib, curl, cairo, freetype, fontconfig, lcms, libjpeg, openjpeg
-, minimal ? false
+, withData ? false, poppler_data
 , qt4Support ? false, qt4 ? null
 , qt5Support ? false, qtbase ? null
-, utils ? false, suffix ? "glib"
+, utils ? false
+, minimal ? false, suffix ? "glib"
 }:
 
 let # beware: updates often break cups_filters build
@@ -20,7 +21,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   outputs = [ "dev" "out" ];
 
-  patches = [ ./datadir_env.patch ];
+  buildInputs = [ libiconv ] ++ libintlOrEmpty ++ lib.optional withData poppler_data;
 
   # TODO: reduce propagation to necessary libs
   propagatedBuildInputs = with lib;
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ++ optional qt4Support qt4
     ++ optional qt5Support qtbase;
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig libiconv ] ++ libintlOrEmpty;
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
 
   NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DQT_NO_DEBUG" ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/pdfgrep/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/pdfgrep/default.nix
index cef212b2a134..6e5f98d4a717 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/pdfgrep/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/pdfgrep/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ fetchurl, stdenv, pkgconfig, poppler, poppler_data, makeWrapper }:
+{ fetchurl, stdenv, pkgconfig, poppler, makeWrapper }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "pdfgrep-${version}";
@@ -9,19 +9,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "6e8bcaf8b219e1ad733c97257a97286a94124694958c27506b2ea7fc8e532437";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ pkgconfig poppler poppler_data makeWrapper ];
+  buildInputs = [ pkgconfig poppler makeWrapper ];
 
   patchPhase = ''
     sed -i -e "s%cpp/poppler-document.h%poppler/cpp/poppler-document.h%" pdfgrep.cc
     sed -i -e "s%cpp/poppler-page.h%poppler/cpp/poppler-page.h%" pdfgrep.cc
   '';
 
-  # workarround since it can't be hardcoded in pdfgrep
-  preFixup = ''
-    wrapProgram "$out/bin/pdfgrep" \
-      --set POPPLER_DATADIR "${poppler_data}/share/poppler"
-  '';
-
   meta = {
     description = "A tool to search text in PDF files";
     homepage = http://pdfgrep.sourceforge.net/;