diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix b/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
index 4e91dee6a405..48bad91d2fe5 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ mapAliases (rec {
   libgnome_keyring = libgnome-keyring; # added 2018-02-25
   libgnome_keyring3 = libgnome-keyring3; # added 2018-02-25
   libgumbo = gumbo; # added 2018-01-21
+  libintlOrEmpty = stdenv.lib.optional (!stdenv.isLinux || hostPlatform.libc != "glibc") gettext; # added 2018-03-14
   libjson_rpc_cpp = libjson-rpc-cpp; # added 2017-02-28
   libmysql = mysql.connector-c; # added # 2017-12-28, this was a misnomer refering to libmysqlclient
   libtidy = html-tidy;  # added 2014-12-21
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index a21957afd12b..a8e4f521772f 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -9986,9 +9986,6 @@ with pkgs;
   # On non-GNU systems we need GNU Gettext for libintl.
   libintl = if hostPlatform.libc != "glibc" then gettext else null;
 
-  # deprecated: provided for compatability
-  libintlOrEmpty = [ libintl ];
-
   libid3tag = callPackage ../development/libraries/libid3tag {
     gperf = gperf_3_0;
   };