diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/patool/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/patool/default.nix
index 47ef2faea962..f23521ea2140 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/patool/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/patool/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, buildPythonPackage, fetchFromGitHub, fetchurl, pytestCheckHook, p7zip,
+{ lib, buildPythonPackage, fetchFromGitHub, pytestCheckHook, p7zip,
   cabextract, zip, lzip, zpaq, gnutar, gnugrep, diffutils, file,
   gzip, bzip2, xz}:
 
@@ -6,17 +6,6 @@
 # it will still use unrar if present in the path
 
 let
-  # FIXME: backport a patch in `file` that seemingly only affects this package
-  # Revert when fix to main package makes it through staging.
-  file' = file.overrideAttrs(old: {
-    patches = (old.patches or []) ++ [
-      (fetchurl {
-        url = "https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/plain/sys-apps/file/files/file-5.44-decompress-empty.patch?h=dfc57da515a2aaf085bea68267cc727f1bfaa691";
-        hash = "sha256-fUzRQAlLWczBmR5iA1Gk66mHjP40MJcMdgCtm2+u1SQ=";
-      })
-    ];
-  });
-
   compression-utilities = [
     p7zip
     gnutar
@@ -28,7 +17,7 @@ let
     gnugrep
     diffutils
     bzip2
-    file'
+    file
     xz
   ];
 in
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/file/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/file/default.nix
index 2edba63c1723..35ea4e992d88 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/file/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/file/default.nix
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     # Needed for strip-nondeterminism.
     # https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/strip-nondeterminism/-/issues/20
     ./pyzip.patch
+
+    # Backport fix for --uncompress always detecting contents as "empty"
+    (fetchurl {
+      url = "https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/plain/sys-apps/file/files/file-5.44-decompress-empty.patch?h=dfc57da515a2aaf085bea68267cc727f1bfaa691";
+      hash = "sha256-fUzRQAlLWczBmR5iA1Gk66mHjP40MJcMdgCtm2+u1SQ=";
+    })
   ];
 
   strictDeps = true;