diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libplist/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libplist/default.nix
index 19b700ca5e30..63599c4352d0 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libplist/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libplist/default.nix
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
-{ stdenv,  autoreconfHook, fetchFromGitHub, pkgconfig, python2Packages, glib }:
+{ stdenv, autoreconfHook, fetchFromGitHub, pkgconfig, enablePython ? false, python, glib }:
 
-let
-  inherit (python2Packages) python cython;
-in
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "libplist";
   version = "2019-04-04";
@@ -14,18 +11,23 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "19yw80yblq29i2jx9yb7bx0lfychy9dncri3fk4as35kq5bf26i8";
   };
 
-  outputs = ["bin" "dev" "out" "py"];
+  outputs = ["bin" "dev" "out" ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePython "py";
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
     pkgconfig
-    python
-    cython
     autoreconfHook
+  ] ++ stdenv.lib.optionals enablePython [
+    python
+    python.pkgs.cython
+  ];
+
+  configureFlags = stdenv.lib.optionals (!enablePython) [
+    "--without-cython"
   ];
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ glib ];
 
-  postFixup = ''
+  postFixup = stdenv.lib.optionalString enablePython ''
     moveToOutput "lib/${python.libPrefix}" "$py"
   '';
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index ec8df2017414..b25186a0aa60 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -3863,7 +3863,7 @@ in {
   libsavitar = callPackage ../development/python-modules/libsavitar { };
 
   libplist = disabledIf isPy3k
-    (toPythonModule (pkgs.libplist.override{python2Packages=self; })).py;
+    (toPythonModule (pkgs.libplist.override { enablePython = true; inherit python; })).py;
 
   libxml2 = (toPythonModule (pkgs.libxml2.override{pythonSupport=true; inherit python;})).py;