diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libvmi/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libvmi/default.nix
index 2f1f7c314945..1a216f5f3b13 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libvmi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libvmi/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
   pkgconfig,
   json_c,
   xen,
-  libvirt }:
+  libvirt,
+  xenSupport ? true }:
 
 with stdenv.lib;
 
@@ -27,9 +28,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0wbi2nasb1gbci6cq23g6kq7i10rwi1y7r44rl03icr5prqjpdyv";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ glib which libvirt json_c xen ];
+  buildInputs = [ glib which libvirt json_c ] ++ (optional xenSupport xen);
   nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook yacc bison flex libtool autoconf automake pkgconfig ];
 
+  configureFlags = optional (!xenSupport) "--disable-xen";
+
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     homepage = "http://libvmi.com/";
     description = "A C library for virtual machine introspection";