diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/libglade/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/libglade/default.nix
index c61ecc16f15..d51cccf7906 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/libglade/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/libglade/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, gtk2, libxml2, python, gettext}:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, gtk2, libxml2, python2 ? null, withLibgladeConvert ? false, gettext }:
+
+assert withLibgladeConvert -> python2 != null;
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "libglade-2.6.4";
@@ -11,7 +13,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   outputs = [ "out" "dev" ];
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
-  buildInputs = [ gtk2 python gettext ];
+  buildInputs = [ gtk2 gettext ]
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional withLibgladeConvert python2;
 
   NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lgmodule-2.0";