diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/irc/irssi/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/irc/irssi/default.nix
index 7a4fc703dd77..1ee2446460d3 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/irc/irssi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/irc/irssi/default.nix
@@ -1,17 +1,25 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, pkg-config, ncurses, glib, openssl, perl, libintl, libgcrypt, libotr }:
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, autoconf, automake, libtool, pkg-config, ncurses, glib, openssl, perl, libintl, libgcrypt, libotr, git }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "irssi";
   version = "1.2.3";
 
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = "https://github.com/irssi/irssi/releases/download/${version}/${pname}-${version}.tar.gz";
-    sha256 = "09cwz5ff1i5lp35qhhmw6kbw5dwcn9pl16gpzkc92xg5sx3bgjr9";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    "owner" = "irssi";
+    "repo" = "irssi";
+    "rev" = "91dc3e4dfa1a9558c5a7fe0ea982cb9df0e2de65";
+    "sha256" = "efnE4vuDd7TnOBxMPduiV0/nez1jVhTjbJ0vzN4ZMcg=";
+    "leaveDotGit" = true;
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkg-config ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkg-config autoconf automake libtool git ];
   buildInputs = [ ncurses glib openssl perl libintl libgcrypt libotr ];
 
+  preConfigure = ''
+    NOCONFIGURE=1 ./autogen.sh
+  '';
+
   configureFlags = [
     "--with-proxy"
     "--with-bot"
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/irc/irssi/fish/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/irc/irssi/fish/default.nix
index df59ddec6a90..a3ee4e4ab9c7 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/irc/irssi/fish/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/irc/irssi/fish/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   preConfigure = ''
-    tar xf ${irssi.src}
+    cp -a "${irssi.src}" "./${irssi.name}"
     configureFlags="$configureFlags --with-irssi-source=`pwd`/${irssi.name}"
 
     ./regen.sh