diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/sy/sympa/gettext-0.25.patch b/pkgs/by-name/sy/sympa/gettext-0.25.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cf1a71eec0b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/sy/sympa/gettext-0.25.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
+index 2182b31..6292827 100644
+--- a/configure.ac
++++ b/configure.ac
+@@ -23,12 +23,14 @@
+ # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ 
++AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS([m4])
++
+ AC_PREREQ(2.60)
+ AC_INIT(sympa, 6.2.76, devel@sympa.community)
+ AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign -Wall -Werror 1.9 tar-pax])
+ m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])
+-AM_PO_SUBDIRS
+-GETTEXT_MACRO_VERSION=0.19
++AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])
++AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.25])
+ 
+ AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT(/home/sympa)
+ 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/sy/sympa/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/sy/sympa/package.nix
index 1c348cd2e237..eee7f173fb12 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/sy/sympa/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/sy/sympa/package.nix
@@ -93,13 +93,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     "--with-spooldir=${dataDir}/spool"
     "--with-expldir=${dataDir}/list_data"
   ];
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook ];
-  buildInputs = [ perlEnv ];
-  patches = [ ./make-docs.patch ];
-
-  prePatch = ''
-    patchShebangs po/sympa/add-lang.pl
-  '';
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    autoreconfHook
+    perlEnv
+  ];
+  strictDeps = true;
+  patches = [
+    ./make-docs.patch
+    ./gettext-0.25.patch
+  ];
 
   preInstall = ''
     mkdir "$TMP/bin"