diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix
index 36b55c59c245..e461ce858cfd 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix
@@ -1,23 +1,28 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, libuuid, zlib }:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "xapian-${version}";
-  version = "1.4.0";
+let
+  generic = version: sha256: stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+    name = "xapian-${version}";
 
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = "http://oligarchy.co.uk/xapian/${version}/xapian-core-${version}.tar.xz";
-    sha256 = "0xv4da5rmqqzkkkzx2v3jwh5hz5zxhd2b7m8x30fk99a25blyn0h";
-  };
-
-  outputs = [ "out" "doc" ];
-
-  buildInputs = [ libuuid zlib ];
-
-  meta = {
-    description = "Search engine library";
-    homepage = http://xapian.org/;
-    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
-    maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.chaoflow ];
-    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.unix;
+    src = fetchurl {
+      url = "http://oligarchy.co.uk/xapian/${version}/xapian-core-${version}.tar.xz";
+      inherit sha256;
+    };
+
+    outputs = [ "out" "doc" ];
+
+    buildInputs = [ libuuid zlib ];
+
+    meta = {
+      description = "Search engine library";
+      homepage = http://xapian.org/;
+      license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
+      maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.chaoflow ];
+      platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.unix;
+    };
   };
+in {
+  # used by xapian-ruby
+  xapian_1_2_22 = generic "1.2.22" "0zsji22n0s7cdnbgj0kpil05a6bgm5cfv0mvx12d8ydg7z58g6r6";
+  xapian_1_4_0 = generic "1.4.0" "0xv4da5rmqqzkkkzx2v3jwh5hz5zxhd2b7m8x30fk99a25blyn0h";
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/ruby-modules/gem-config/default.nix b/pkgs/development/ruby-modules/gem-config/default.nix
index 20dc23979f5a..02fe9f50558e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/ruby-modules/gem-config/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/ruby-modules/gem-config/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 { lib, fetchurl, writeScript, ruby, kerberos, libxml2, libxslt, python, stdenv, which
 , libiconv, postgresql, v8_3_16_14, clang, sqlite, zlib, imagemagick
-, pkgconfig , ncurses, xapian, gpgme, utillinux, fetchpatch, tzdata, icu, libffi
+, pkgconfig , ncurses, xapian_1_2_22, gpgme, utillinux, fetchpatch, tzdata, icu, libffi
 , cmake, libssh2, openssl, mysql, darwin, git, perl, gecode_3, curl
 , libmsgpack, qt48, libsodium, snappy, libossp_uuid, lxc
 }@args:
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ in
   msgpack = attrs: {
     buildInputs = [ libmsgpack ];
   };
-  
+
   mysql = attrs: {
     buildInputs = [ mysql.lib zlib openssl ];
   };
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ in
         --replace "/usr/share/zoneinfo" "${tzdata}/share/zoneinfo"
     '';
   };
-  
+
   uuid4r = attrs: {
     buildInputs = [ which libossp_uuid ];
   };
@@ -226,12 +226,12 @@ in
   xapian-ruby = attrs: {
     # use the system xapian
     dontBuild = false;
-    buildInputs = [ xapian pkgconfig zlib ];
+    buildInputs = [ xapian_1_2_22 pkgconfig zlib ];
     postPatch = ''
       cp ${./xapian-Rakefile} Rakefile
     '';
     preInstall = ''
-      export XAPIAN_CONFIG=${xapian}/bin/xapian-config
+      export XAPIAN_CONFIG=${xapian_1_2_22}/bin/xapian-config
     '';
   };
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index d1f7876c8dfa..ae4e43b93506 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -10044,7 +10044,9 @@ with pkgs;
 
   x265 = callPackage ../development/libraries/x265 { };
 
-  xapian = callPackage ../development/libraries/xapian { };
+  inherit (callPackage ../development/libraries/xapian { })
+    xapian_1_2_22 xapian_1_4_0;
+  xapian = xapian_1_4_0;
 
   xapian-omega = callPackage ../development/libraries/xapian/tools/omega {
     libmagic = file;