diff --git a/maintainers/scripts/debian-patches.sh b/maintainers/scripts/debian-patches.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..78678473a49f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maintainers/scripts/debian-patches.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Download patches from debian project
+# Usage $0 debian-patches.txt debian-patches.nix
+# An example input and output files can be found in applications/graphics/xara/
+
+DEB_URL=http://patch-tracker.debian.org/patch/series/dl
+declare -a deb_patches
+mapfile -t deb_patches < $1
+
+prefix="${DEB_URL}/${deb_patches[0]}"
+
+if [[ -n "$2" ]]; then
+    exec 1> $2
+fi
+
+cat <<EOF
+# Generated by $(basename $0) from $(basename $1)
+let
+  prefix = "${prefix}";
+in
+[
+EOF
+for ((i=1;i < ${#deb_patches[@]}; ++i)); do
+    url="${prefix}/${deb_patches[$i]}"
+    sha256=$(nix-prefetch-url $url)
+    echo "  {"
+    echo "    url = \"\${prefix}/${deb_patches[$i]}\";"
+    echo "    sha256 = \"$sha256\";"
+    echo "  }"
+done
+echo "]"
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/debian-patches.nix b/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/debian-patches.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..dd3061461868
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/debian-patches.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Generated by debian-patches.sh from debian-patches.txt
+let
+  prefix = "http://patch-tracker.debian.org/patch/series/dl/xaralx/0.7r1785-5";
+in
+[
+  {
+    url = "${prefix}/30_gtk_wxwidgets_symbol_clash";
+    sha256 = "1rc9dh9mnp93mad96dkp7idyhhcw7h6w0g5s92mqgzj79hqgaziz";
+  }
+  {
+    url = "${prefix}/40_algorithm_include";
+    sha256 = "03jhl1qnxj7nl8malf6v1y24aldfz87x1p2jxp04mrr35nzvyyc0";
+  }
+  {
+    url = "${prefix}/50_update_imagemagick_version_parser";
+    sha256 = "1nilsqghlr649sc14n1aqkhdx7f66rq91gqccdpi17jwijs27497";
+  }
+  {
+    url = "${prefix}/remove-icon-suffix";
+    sha256 = "160zmkgwlsanqivnip89558yvd9zvqp8ks2wbyr2aigl2rafin22";
+  }
+  {
+    url = "${prefix}/45_fix_gcc4";
+    sha256 = "06zsj0z9v5n557gj8337v6xd26clbvm4dc0qhvpvzbisq81l9jyi";
+  }
+  {
+    url = "${prefix}/55_fix_contstuctor_call";
+    sha256 = "0b14glrcwhv0ja960h56n5jm4f9563ladap2pgaywihq485ql1c1";
+  }
+]
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/debian-patches.txt b/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/debian-patches.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5c95d401a323
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/debian-patches.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+xaralx/0.7r1785-5
+30_gtk_wxwidgets_symbol_clash
+40_algorithm_include
+50_update_imagemagick_version_parser
+remove-icon-suffix
+45_fix_gcc4
+55_fix_contstuctor_call
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/default.nix
index 89ba789524fb..8a6bac4db2b9 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/default.nix
@@ -1,35 +1,20 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, autoconf, automake, gettext, libtool, cvs, wxGTK, gtk,
-pkgconfig, libxml2, zip, libpng, libjpeg, shebangfix, perl, freetype}:
+{stdenv, fetchurl, automake, gettext, freetype, libxml2, pango, pkgconfig
+, wxGTK, gtk, perl, zip}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "xaralx-0.7r1766";
+  name = "xaralx-0.7r1785";
+
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = http://downloads2.xara.com/opensource/XaraLX-0.7r1766.tar.bz2;
-    sha256 = "1rcl7hqvcai586jky7hvzxhnq8q0ka2rsmgiq5ijwclgr5d4ah7n";
+    url = http://downloads2.xara.com/opensource/XaraLX-0.7r1785.tar.bz2;
+    sha256 = "05xbzq1i1vw2mdsv7zjqfpxfv3g1j0g5kks0gq6sh373xd6y8lyh";
   };
     
-  buildInputs = [automake autoconf gettext libtool cvs wxGTK gtk pkgconfig libxml2 zip libpng libjpeg shebangfix perl];
+  buildNativeInputs = [ automake pkgconfig gettext perl zip ];
+  buildInputs = [ wxGTK gtk libxml2 freetype pango ];
 
-  inherit freetype libpng libjpeg libxml2;
-  configureFlags = "--with-wx-config --disable-svnversion --disable-international";
+  configureFlags = "--disable-svnversion";
 
-  patches = [./gtk_cflags.patch];
+  patches = map fetchurl (import ./debian-patches.nix);
 
-  # Why do I need to add library path for freetype ? 
-  installPhase = "
-    make install
-    ensureDir \$out/lib
-    mv \$out/{bin,lib}/XaraLX
-cat >> \$out/bin/XaraLX << EOF
-#!/bin/sh
-LD_LIBRARY_PATH=\$freetype/lib:\$libpng/lib:\$libjpeg/lib:\$libxml2/lib:
-\$out/lib/XaraLX \"\\$@\"
-EOF
-chmod +x \$out/bin/XaraLX
-";
- 
-  patchPhase = "
-    find . -iname \"*.pl\" | xargs shebangfix;
-    unset patchPhase; patchPhase
-   "; 
+  prePatch = "patchShebangs Scripts";
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/gtk_cflags.patch b/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/gtk_cflags.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 842236073996..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/applications/graphics/xara/gtk_cflags.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-diff -rc XaraLX-0.7r1766/Makefile.in XaraLX-0.7r1766.new/Makefile.in
-*** XaraLX-0.7r1766/Makefile.in	2007-01-31 13:43:04.000000000 +0100
---- XaraLX-0.7r1766.new/Makefile.in	2007-05-15 00:19:36.000000000 +0200
-***************
-*** 256,262 ****
-  @DARWIN_LINK_TRUE@XaraLX_SOURCES = Kernel/*.o wxOil/*.o tools/*.o wxXtra/*.o
-  @DARWIN_LINK_FALSE@XaraLX_LDSOURCE = -Wl,--start-group $(XaraLX_SOURCES) -Wl,--end-group
-  @DARWIN_LINK_TRUE@XaraLX_LDSOURCE = $(XaraLX_SOURCES)
-! XaraLX_LDFLAGS = --debug -L$(srcdir)/$(CDRAW_LIB_DIR) $(WX_LIBS) $(LIBS) $(LIBXML2_LIBS) -lCDraw
-  UNZIP = unzip
-  ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
-  all: all-recursive
---- 256,262 ----
-  @DARWIN_LINK_TRUE@XaraLX_SOURCES = Kernel/*.o wxOil/*.o tools/*.o wxXtra/*.o
-  @DARWIN_LINK_FALSE@XaraLX_LDSOURCE = -Wl,--start-group $(XaraLX_SOURCES) -Wl,--end-group
-  @DARWIN_LINK_TRUE@XaraLX_LDSOURCE = $(XaraLX_SOURCES)
-! XaraLX_LDFLAGS = --debug -L$(srcdir)/$(CDRAW_LIB_DIR) $(GTK_LIBS) $(WX_LIBS) $(LIBS) $(LIBXML2_LIBS) -lCDraw
-  UNZIP = unzip
-  ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
-  all: all-recursive
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index c56683a9f8d4..6b1d91432649 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -7631,9 +7631,7 @@ let
     inherit gsl aalib zlib libpng intltool gettext perl;
   };
 
-  xara = callPackage ../applications/graphics/xara {
-    wxGTK = wxGTK26;
-  };
+  xara = callPackage ../applications/graphics/xara { };
 
   xawtv = callPackage ../applications/video/xawtv { };