diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
index b06ea4dda485..0d6121c4e110 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
@@ -286,6 +286,13 @@ in with passthru; stdenv.mkDerivation {
     find $out -name "*.py" | ${pythonForBuildInterpreter} -OO -m compileall -q -f -x "lib2to3" -i -
     '' + optionalString stripBytecode ''
     find $out -type d -name __pycache__ -print0 | xargs -0 -I {} rm -rf "{}"
+    '' + ''
+    # *strip* shebang from libpython gdb script - it should be dual-syntax and
+    # interpretable by whatever python the gdb in question is using, which may
+    # not even match the major version of this python. doing this after the
+    # bytecode compilations for the same reason.
+    mkdir -p $out/share/gdb
+    sed '/^#!/d' Tools/gdb/libpython.py > $out/share/gdb/libpython.py
   '';
 
   preFixup = stdenv.lib.optionalString (stdenv.hostPlatform != stdenv.buildPlatform) ''
@@ -303,6 +310,8 @@ in with passthru; stdenv.mkDerivation {
     pythonForBuild buildPackages.bash
   ];
 
+  separateDebugInfo = true;
+
   inherit passthru;
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;