diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/desktop/gtksourceview/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/desktop/gtksourceview/default.nix
index 9efca75e8f87..05da06846418 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/desktop/gtksourceview/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/desktop/gtksourceview/default.nix
@@ -38,6 +38,4 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   preConfigure = optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
     intltoolize --force
   '';
-
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "-lintl";
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/misc/libgnome-games-support/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/misc/libgnome-games-support/default.nix
index d777ec0baae5..3b580abed12c 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/misc/libgnome-games-support/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/misc/libgnome-games-support/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, glib, gtk3, libgee, intltool, gnome3, libintlOrEmpty }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, glib, gtk3, libgee, intltool, gnome3
+, libintl }:
 
 let
   pname = "libgnome-games-support";
@@ -11,10 +12,8 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "1j7lfcnc29lgn8ppn13wkn9w2y1n3lsapagwp91zh3bf0h2h4hv1";
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig intltool ] ++ libintlOrEmpty;
-  buildInputs = [ glib gtk3 libgee ];
-
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = if stdenv.isDarwin then "-lintl" else null;
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig intltool ];
+  buildInputs = [ glib gtk3 libgee libintl ];
 
   passthru = {
     updateScript = gnome3.updateScript {
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/lxde/core/lxtask/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/lxde/core/lxtask/default.nix
index dbed065190e6..ad4b89165fa1 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/lxde/core/lxtask/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/lxde/core/lxtask/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, intltool, gtk3 }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, intltool, gtk3, libintl }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "lxtask-${version}";
@@ -11,12 +11,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig intltool ];
 
-  buildInputs = [ gtk3 ];
+  buildInputs = [ gtk3 libintl ];
 
   configureFlags = [ "--enable-gtk3" ];
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "-lintl";
-
   meta = {
     description = "Lightweight and desktop independent task manager";
     longDescription = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/atk/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/atk/default.nix
index 63fd7a4986f9..813f8c3c9640 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/atk/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/atk/default.nix
@@ -34,8 +34,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     glib
   ];
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = if stdenv.isDarwin then "-lintl" else null;
-
   doCheck = true;
 
   passthru = {
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gtksourceview/3.x.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gtksourceview/3.x.nix
index 673eb1e52c44..fe81c97ab6eb 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gtksourceview/3.x.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gtksourceview/3.x.nix
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   outputs = [ "out" "dev" ];
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig intltool gettext perl gobjectIntrospection vala_0_40 ]
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig intltool perl gobjectIntrospection vala_0_40 ]
     ++ stdenv.lib.optionals doCheck checkInputs;
 
-  buildInputs = [ atk cairo glib pango libxml2 ];
+  buildInputs = [ atk cairo glib pango libxml2 gettext ];
 
   preBuild = ''
     substituteInPlace gtksourceview/gtksourceview-utils.c --replace "@NIX_SHARE_PATH@" "$out/share"
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   patches = [ ./3.x-nix_share_path.patch ];
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "-lintl";
-
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   doCheck = stdenv.isLinux;