diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/builder.sh b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/builder.sh
index 73a8bdc3864..9c57a580847 100755
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/builder.sh
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/builder.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 
 buildinputs=""
-. $stdenv/setup || exit 1
+if test -n "$zlibSupport"; then
+  buildinputs="$zlib $buildinputs"
+fi
+. $stdenv/setup
+
+tar xvfj $src
+cd Python-*
+./configure --prefix=$out
+
+make
+make install
 
-tar xvfj $src || exit 1
-cd Python-* || exit 1
-./configure --prefix=$out || exit 1
-make || exit 1
-make install || exit 1
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/default.nix
index 85118d132a4..4d60896424e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/default.nix
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl}: derivation {
+{stdenv, fetchurl, zlib ? null, zlibSupport ? true}:
+
+assert zlibSupport -> zlib != null;
+
+derivation {
   name = "python-2.3.3";
   system = stdenv.system;
   builder = ./builder.sh;
   src = fetchurl {
       url = http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.3.3/Python-2.3.3.tar.bz2;
       md5 = "70ada9f65742ab2c77a96bcd6dffd9b1";
-    };
-  stdenv = stdenv;
+  };
+  zlib = if zlibSupport then zlib else null;
+  inherit stdenv zlibSupport;
 }