diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/libcap-ng/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/libcap-ng/default.nix
index 3670f06e5439..ea54f1a39fd1 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/libcap-ng/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/libcap-ng/default.nix
@@ -1,22 +1,40 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, python }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, swig ? null, python2 ? null, python3 ? null }:
 
-assert stdenv.isLinux;
+assert python2 != null || python3 != null -> swig != null;
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "libcap-ng-${version}";
-  version = "0.7.3";
+  # When updating make sure to test that the version with
+  # all of the python bindings still works
+  version = "0.7.7";
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "${meta.homepage}/${name}.tar.gz";
-    sha256 = "1cavlcrpqi4imkmagjhw65br8rv2fsbhf68mm3lczr51sg44392w";
+    sha256 = "0syhyrixk7fqvwis3k7iddn75g0qxysc1q5fifvzccxk7774jmb1";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ python ]; # ToDo? optional swig for python bindings
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ swig ];
+  buildInputs = [ python2 python3 ];
 
-  meta = {
+  postPatch = ''
+    function get_header() {
+      echo -e "#include <$1>" | gcc -M -xc - | tr ' ' '\n' | grep "$1" | head -n 1
+    }
+
+    # Fix some hardcoding of header paths
+    sed -i "s,/usr/include/linux/capability.h,$(get_header linux/capability.h),g" bindings/python{,3}/Makefile.in
+  '';
+
+  configureFlags = [
+    (if python2 != null then "--with-python" else "--without-python")
+    (if python3 != null then "--with-python3" else "--without-python3")
+  ];
+
+  meta = let inherit (stdenv.lib) platforms licenses maintainers; in {
     description = "Library for working with POSIX capabilities";
     homepage = http://people.redhat.com/sgrubb/libcap-ng/;
-    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
-    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.lgpl21;
+    platforms = platforms.linux;
+    license = licenses.lgpl21;
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ wkennington ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index bccccc12baeb..bb9392f90531 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -9921,7 +9921,11 @@ let
 
   libcap_manpages = callPackage ../os-specific/linux/libcap/man.nix { };
 
-  libcap_ng = callPackage ../os-specific/linux/libcap-ng { };
+  libcap_ng = callPackage ../os-specific/linux/libcap-ng {
+    swig = null; # Currently not using the python2/3 bindings
+    python2 = null; # Currently not using the python2 bindings
+    python3 = null; # Currently not using the python3 bindings
+  };
 
   libnscd = callPackage ../os-specific/linux/libnscd { };