diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/builder.sh b/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/builder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..58dcc3d8ad0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+. $stdenv/setup
+if test -n "$coreutils"; then PATH=$coreutils/bin:$PATH; fi
+genericBuild
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/default.nix
index 7fc4fe3d5fb7..783bf5d06f74 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/diffutils/default.nix
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl}:
+{stdenv, fetchurl, coreutils ? null}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "diffutils-2.8.1";
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
   src = fetchurl {
     url = ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/gnu/diffutils/diffutils-2.8.1.tar.gz;
     md5 = "71f9c5ae19b60608f6c7f162da86a428";
   };
+  /* If no explicit coreutils is given, use the one from stdenv. */
+  inherit coreutils;
 }