diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
index 1229c0381df5..2553b73d0ebb 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl}:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, libiconv }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
   name = "gettext-0.17";
@@ -42,21 +42,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
 
 (if (stdenv.system == "i686-darwin" || stdenv.system == "i686-cygwin")
     then {
-      buildInputs = [
-        (stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-          name = "libiconv-1.13.1";
-
-          src = fetchurl {
-            url = "mirror://gnu/libiconv/${name}.tar.gz";
-            sha256 = "0jcsjk2g28bq20yh7rvbn8xgq6q42g8dkkac0nfh12b061l638sm";
-          };
-
-          meta = {
-            description = "GNU libiconv, an iconv(3) implementation";
-            homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/;
-            license = "LGPLv2+";
-          };
-        })
-      ];
+      buildInputs = [ libiconv ];
     }
     else {}))
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libiconv/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libiconv/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..459987efa474
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libiconv/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+{ fetchurl, stdenv }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "libiconv-1.13.1";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://gnu/libiconv/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "0jcsjk2g28bq20yh7rvbn8xgq6q42g8dkkac0nfh12b061l638sm";
+  };
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "GNU libiconv, an iconv(3) implementation";
+
+    longDescription = ''
+      Some programs, like mailers and web browsers, must be able to convert
+      between a given text encoding and the user's encoding.  Other programs
+      internally store strings in Unicode, to facilitate internal processing,
+      and need to convert between internal string representation (Unicode)
+      and external string representation (a traditional encoding) when they
+      are doing I/O.  GNU libiconv is a conversion library for both kinds of
+      applications.
+    '';
+
+    homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/;
+    license = "LGPLv2+";
+
+    maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.ludo ];
+
+    # This library is not needed on GNU platforms.
+    platforms = [ "i686-cygwin" "i686-darwin" ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 9ca5a9dbc65c..4f9b6346839e 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -3188,7 +3188,7 @@ let
   };
 
   gettext = import ../development/libraries/gettext {
-    inherit fetchurl stdenv;
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv libiconv;
   };
 
   gd = import ../development/libraries/gd {
@@ -3632,6 +3632,10 @@ let
     inherit (gnome) glib gnomevfs libbonobo;
   };
 
+  libiconv = import ../development/libraries/libiconv {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv;
+  };
+
   libid3tag = import ../development/libraries/libid3tag {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv zlib;
   };