diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/sd/sdl2-compat/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/sd/sdl2-compat/package.nix
index 03f76b78e462..20783cab0638 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/sd/sdl2-compat/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/sd/sdl2-compat/package.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@
   ffmpeg,
   qemu,
 }:
-
+let
+  # tray support on sdl3 pulls in gtk3, which is quite an expensive dependency.
+  # sdl2 does not support the tray, so we can just disable that requirement.
+  sdl3' = sdl3.override { traySupport = false; };
+in
 stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   pname = "sdl2-compat";
   version = "2.32.56";
@@ -39,7 +43,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   ];
 
   buildInputs = [
-    sdl3
+    sdl3'
     libX11
   ];
 
@@ -57,7 +61,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   cmakeFlags = [
     (lib.cmakeBool "SDL2COMPAT_TESTS" finalAttrs.finalPackage.doCheck)
-    (lib.cmakeFeature "CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH" (lib.makeLibraryPath [ sdl3 ]))
+    (lib.cmakeFeature "CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH" (lib.makeLibraryPath [ sdl3' ]))
   ];
 
   # skip timing-based tests as those are flaky
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/sd/sdl3/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/sd/sdl3/package.nix
index e79e14f95297..236e0c69af41 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/sd/sdl3/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/sd/sdl3/package.nix
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
   libudevSupport ? stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux && !stdenv.hostPlatform.isAndroid,
   sndioSupport ? false,
   testSupport ? true,
+  traySupport ? true,
   waylandSupport ? stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux && !stdenv.hostPlatform.isAndroid,
   x11Support ? !stdenv.hostPlatform.isAndroid && !stdenv.hostPlatform.isWindows,
 }:
@@ -58,16 +59,21 @@
 assert lib.assertMsg (
   waylandSupport -> openglSupport
 ) "SDL3 requires OpenGL support to enable Wayland";
+assert lib.assertMsg (ibusSupport -> dbusSupport) "SDL3 requires dbus support to enable ibus";
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   pname = "sdl3";
   version = "3.2.16";
 
-  outputs = [
-    "lib"
-    "dev"
-    "out"
-  ];
+  outputs =
+    [
+      "lib"
+      "dev"
+      "out"
+    ]
+    ++ lib.optionals testSupport [
+      "installedTests"
+    ];
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "libsdl-org";
@@ -78,13 +84,19 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   postPatch =
     # Tests timeout on Darwin
+    # `testtray` loads assets from a relative path, which we are patching to be absolute
     lib.optionalString testSupport ''
       substituteInPlace test/CMakeLists.txt \
         --replace-fail 'set(noninteractive_timeout 10)' 'set(noninteractive_timeout 30)'
+
+      substituteInPlace test/testtray.c \
+        --replace-warn '../test/' '${placeholder "installedTests"}/share/assets/'
     ''
     + lib.optionalString waylandSupport ''
       substituteInPlace src/video/wayland/SDL_waylandmessagebox.c \
         --replace-fail '"zenity"' '"${lib.getExe zenity}"'
+      substituteInPlace src/dialog/unix/SDL_zenitydialog.c \
+        --replace-fail '"zenity"' '"${lib.getExe zenity}"'
     '';
 
   strictDeps = true;
@@ -117,7 +129,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
       libusb1
     ]
     ++ lib.optional (
-      stdenv.hostPlatform.isUnix && !stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin
+      stdenv.hostPlatform.isUnix && !stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin && traySupport
     ) libayatana-appindicator
     ++ lib.optional alsaSupport alsa-lib
     ++ lib.optional dbusSupport dbus
@@ -164,11 +176,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     (lib.cmakeBool "SDL_PULSEAUDIO" pulseaudioSupport)
     (lib.cmakeBool "SDL_SNDIO" sndioSupport)
     (lib.cmakeBool "SDL_TEST_LIBRARY" testSupport)
+    (lib.cmakeBool "SDL_TRAY_DUMMY" (!traySupport))
     (lib.cmakeBool "SDL_WAYLAND" waylandSupport)
     (lib.cmakeBool "SDL_WAYLAND_LIBDECOR" libdecorSupport)
     (lib.cmakeBool "SDL_X11" x11Support)
 
     (lib.cmakeBool "SDL_TESTS" finalAttrs.finalPackage.doCheck)
+    (lib.cmakeBool "SDL_INSTALL_TESTS" testSupport)
   ];
 
   doCheck = testSupport && stdenv.buildPlatform.canExecute stdenv.hostPlatform;
@@ -184,6 +198,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     ) "-rpath ${lib.makeLibraryPath (finalAttrs.dlopenBuildInputs)}";
   };
 
+  postInstall = lib.optionalString testSupport ''
+    moveToOutput "share/installed-tests" "$installedTests"
+    moveToOutput "libexec/installed-tests" "$installedTests"
+    install -Dm 444 -t $installedTests/share/assets test/*.bmp
+  '';
+
   passthru = {
     # Building this in its own derivation to make sure the rpath hack above propagate to users
     debug-text-example = stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs': {