diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix
index 403f0e8aa995..ac921227740c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ++ optionals stdenv.isLinux [ utillinuxMinimal ] # for libmount
     ++ optionals doCheck [ tzdata libxml2 desktop-file-utils shared-mime-info ];
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig perl python ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig perl python gettext ];
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ zlib libffi gettext libiconv ];