diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/pystring/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/pystring/default.nix
index df80bb773e30..3a1e64c0b000 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/pystring/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/pystring/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, lib, fetchFromGitHub, libtool }:
+{ stdenv, lib, fetchFromGitHub, fetchpatch, cmake }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "pystring";
@@ -11,14 +11,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "1w31pjiyshqgk6zd6m3ab3xfgb0ribi77r6fwrry2aw8w1adjknf";
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ libtool ];
+  patches = [
+    (fetchpatch {
+      name = "pystring-cmake-configuration.patch";
+      url = "https://github.com/imageworks/pystring/commit/4f653fc35421129eae8a2c424901ca7170059370.patch";
+      sha256 = "1hynzz76ff4vvmi6kwixsmjswkpyj6s4vv05d7nw0zscj4cdp8k3";
+    })
+  ];
 
-  patches = [ ./makefile.patch ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
 
   doCheck = true;
-  checkTarget = "test";
-
-  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
   meta = with lib; {
     homepage = "https://github.com/imageworks/pystring/";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/pystring/makefile.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/pystring/makefile.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 0bbd6522d39d..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/pystring/makefile.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
---- pystring/Makefile.orig	2020-02-04 03:24:44.000000000 -0300
-+++ pystring/Makefile	2020-11-20 20:23:07.314247959 -0300
-@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
--LIBTOOL = libtool
--LIBDIR = /usr/lib
--CXX = g++
--CXXFLAGS = -g -O3 -Wall -Wextra -Wshadow -Wconversion -Wcast-qual -Wformat=2
-+LIBTOOL ?= libtool
-+PREFIX ?= /usr
-+INCLUDEDIR = ${PREFIX}/include/pystring
-+LIBDIR = ${PREFIX}/lib
-+CXX ?= g++
-+CXXFLAGS ?= -g -O3 -Wall -Wextra -Wshadow -Wconversion -Wcast-qual -Wformat=2 -fPIC
- 
- all: libpystring.la
- 
-@@ -12,7 +14,8 @@
- 	$(LIBTOOL) --mode=link --tag=CXX $(CXX) -o $@ $< -rpath $(LIBDIR)
- 
- install: libpystring.la
--	$(LIBTOOL) --mode=install install -c $< $(LIBDIR)/$<
-+	$(LIBTOOL) --mode=install install -Dm755 $< $(DESTDIR)$(LIBDIR)/$<
-+	$(LIBTOOL) --mode=install install -Dm644 pystring.h $(DESTDIR)$(INCLUDEDIR)/pystring.h
- 
- clean:
- 	$(RM) -fr pystring.lo pystring.o libpystring.la .libs