diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/elixir/generic-builder.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/elixir/generic-builder.nix
index 348d054a6c77..e87328e49b45 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/elixir/generic-builder.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/elixir/generic-builder.nix
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 
 { baseName ? "elixir"
 , version
+, erlangPackage ? erlang
 , minimumOTPVersion
 , sha256 ? null
 , rev ? "v${version}"
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ let
   inherit (lib) getVersion versionAtLeast optional concatStringsSep;
 
 in
-assert versionAtLeast (getVersion erlang) minimumOTPVersion;
+assert versionAtLeast (getVersion erlangPackage) minimumOTPVersion;
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation ({
   pname = "${baseName}";
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ({
   inherit src version debugInfo;
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
-  buildInputs = [ erlang ];
+  buildInputs = [ erlangPackage ];
 
   LANG = "C.UTF-8";
   LC_TYPE = "C.UTF-8";