diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
index 0bd379b5de31..7a73baea2388 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
@@ -1019,70 +1019,76 @@ rec {
       ];
     }
   */
-  applyPatches = lib.extendMkDerivation {
-    constructDrv = stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation;
-
-    extendDrvArgs =
-      finalAttrs:
-      {
-        src,
-        ...
-      }@args:
-      assert lib.assertMsg (
-        !args ? meta
-      ) "applyPatches will not merge 'meta', change it in 'src' instead";
-      assert lib.assertMsg (
-        !args ? passthru
-      ) "applyPatches will not merge 'passthru', change it in 'src' instead";
+  applyPatches =
+    {
+      src,
+      name ?
+        (
+          if builtins.typeOf src == "path" then
+            baseNameOf src
+          else if builtins.isAttrs src && builtins.hasAttr "name" src then
+            src.name
+          else
+            throw "applyPatches: please supply a `name` argument because a default name can only be computed when the `src` is a path or is an attribute set with a `name` attribute."
+        )
+        + "-patched",
+      patches ? [ ],
+      prePatch ? "",
+      postPatch ? "",
+      ...
+    }@args:
+    assert lib.assertMsg (
+      !args ? meta
+    ) "applyPatches will not merge 'meta', change it in 'src' instead";
+    assert lib.assertMsg (
+      !args ? passthru
+    ) "applyPatches will not merge 'passthru', change it in 'src' instead";
+    if patches == [ ] && prePatch == "" && postPatch == "" then
+      src # nothing to do, so use original src to avoid additional drv
+    else
       let
         keepAttrs = names: lib.filterAttrs (name: val: lib.elem name names);
         # enables tools like nix-update to determine what src attributes to replace
-        extraPassthru = lib.optionalAttrs (lib.isAttrs finalAttrs.src) (
+        extraPassthru = lib.optionalAttrs (lib.isAttrs src) (
           keepAttrs [
             "rev"
             "tag"
             "url"
             "outputHash"
             "outputHashAlgo"
-          ] finalAttrs.src
+          ] src
         );
       in
-      {
-        name =
-          args.name or (
-            if builtins.isPath finalAttrs.src then
-              baseNameOf finalAttrs.src + "-patched"
-            else if builtins.isAttrs finalAttrs.src && (finalAttrs.src ? name) then
-              let
-                srcName = builtins.parseDrvName finalAttrs.src.name;
-              in
-              "${srcName.name}-patched${lib.optionalString (srcName.version != "") "-${srcName.version}"}"
-            else
-              throw "applyPatches: please supply a `name` argument because a default name can only be computed when the `src` is a path or is an attribute set with a `name` attribute."
-          );
-
-        # Manually setting `name` can mess up positioning.
-        # This should fix it.
-        pos = builtins.unsafeGetAttrPos "src" args;
-
-        preferLocalBuild = true;
-        allowSubstitutes = false;
-
-        dontConfigure = true;
-        dontBuild = true;
-        doCheck = false;
-
-        installPhase = "cp -R ./ $out";
-
-        # passthru the git and hash info for nix-update, as well
-        # as all the src's passthru attrs.
-        passthru = extraPassthru // finalAttrs.src.passthru or { };
-
+      stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation (
+        {
+          inherit
+            name
+            src
+            patches
+            prePatch
+            postPatch
+            ;
+          preferLocalBuild = true;
+          allowSubstitutes = false;
+          phases = "unpackPhase patchPhase installPhase";
+          installPhase = "cp -R ./ $out";
+        }
         # Carry (and merge) information from the underlying `src` if present.
-        # If there is not src.meta, this meta block will be blank regardless.
-        meta = lib.optionalAttrs (finalAttrs.src ? meta) removeAttrs finalAttrs.src.meta [ "position" ];
-      };
-  };
+        // (optionalAttrs (src ? meta) {
+          inherit (src) meta;
+        })
+        // (optionalAttrs (extraPassthru != { } || src ? passthru) {
+          passthru = extraPassthru // src.passthru or { };
+        })
+        # Forward any additional arguments to the derivation
+        // (removeAttrs args [
+          "src"
+          "name"
+          "patches"
+          "prePatch"
+          "postPatch"
+        ])
+      );
 
   # TODO: move docs to Nixpkgs manual
   # An immutable file in the store with a length of 0 bytes.