diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix
index 7c39d8039067..9ea7dc6c9d53 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, lib, fetchurl, fetchpatch
-, zlib, xz, python, ncurses, findXMLCatalogs
+, zlib, xz, python, gettext, ncurses, findXMLCatalogs
 , pythonSupport ? stdenv.buildPlatform == stdenv.hostPlatform
 , icuSupport ? false, icu ? null
 , enableShared ? stdenv.hostPlatform.libc != "msvcrt"
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ++ lib.optional (enableStatic && enableShared) "static";
 
   buildInputs = lib.optional pythonSupport python
+    ++ lib.optional (pythonSupport && python?isPy2 && python.isPy2) gettext
     ++ lib.optional (pythonSupport && python?isPy3 && python.isPy3) ncurses
     # Libxml2 has an optional dependency on liblzma.  However, on impure
     # platforms, it may end up using that from /usr/lib, and thus lack a