diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/default.nix
index 6d5afdce496b..cedab532a220 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/default.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   , lib
   , zlib ? null
   , openssl ? null
+  , gdbm ? null
   , makeOverridable
 }:
 
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ makeOverridable (stdenv.mkDerivation) rec {
   buildInputs = [ncurses readline]
     ++(lib.optional (zlib != null) zlib)
     ++(lib.optional (openssl != null) openssl)
+    ++(lib.optional (gdbm != null) gdbm)
   ;
   configureFlags = ["--enable-shared" "--enable-pthread"] ;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 3b6642e70d0e..d1da0a971414 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2228,7 +2228,7 @@ let
   };
 
   ruby18 = import ../development/interpreters/ruby {
-    inherit fetchurl stdenv readline ncurses zlib lib openssl makeOverridable;
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv readline ncurses zlib lib openssl makeOverridable gdbm;
   };
   ruby19 = import ../development/interpreters/ruby/ruby-19.nix { inherit ruby18 fetchurl; };
   ruby = ruby18;