diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/ZODB-5.3.0-fix-tests.patch b/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/ZODB-5.3.0-fix-tests.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index b6bcedea91a8..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/ZODB-5.3.0-fix-tests.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-Tests are kind of broken in ZODB-5.3.0. Fix setup code and disable one
-especially problematic test.
-
-diff -u ZODB-5.3.0/setup.py ZODB-5.3.0/setup.py
---- ZODB-5.3.0/setup.py	2017-08-30 14:55:10.000000000 +0200
-+++ ZODB-5.3.0/setup.py	2017-10-29 11:34:17.277953730 +0100
-@@ -85,7 +85,10 @@
-                     mod = __import__(
-                         _modname(dirpath, base, os.path.splitext(filename)[0]),
-                         {}, {}, ['*'])
--                    _unittests_only(suite, mod.test_suite())
-+                    try:
-+                        _unittests_only(suite, mod.test_suite())
-+                    except AttributeError:
-+                        pass
-         elif 'tests.py' in filenames:
-             mod = __import__(_modname(dirpath, base, 'tests'), {}, {}, ['*'])
-             _unittests_only(suite, mod.test_suite())
-diff -u ZODB-5.3.0/src/ZODB/scripts/tests/test_repozo.py ZODB-5.3.0/src/ZODB/scripts/tests/test_repozo.py
---- ZODB-5.3.0/src/ZODB/scripts/tests/test_repozo.py	2017-08-30 14:55:10.000000000 +0200
-+++ ZODB-5.3.0/src/ZODB/scripts/tests/test_repozo.py	2017-10-29 11:35:10.348240386 +0100
-@@ -1184,7 +1184,4 @@
-         #unittest.makeSuite(Test_do_backup),  #TODO
-         unittest.makeSuite(Test_do_recover),
-         unittest.makeSuite(Test_do_verify),
--        # N.B.:  this test take forever to run (~40sec on a fast laptop),
--        # *and* it is non-deterministic.
--        unittest.makeSuite(MonteCarloTests),
-     ])
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/default.nix
index 3ec954f1235b..c79352085368 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 { stdenv
 , fetchPypi
 , buildPythonPackage
+, python
 , zope_testrunner
 , transaction
 , six
@@ -22,13 +23,10 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
       sha256 = "20155942fa326e89ad8544225bafd74237af332ce9d7c7105a22318fe8269666";
     };
 
-    patches = [
-      ./ZODB-5.3.0-fix-tests.patch # still needeed with 5.4.0
-      # Upstream patch to fix tests with persistent 4.4,
-      # cannot fetchpatch because only one hunk of the upstream commit applies.
-      # TODO remove on next release
-      ./fix-tests-with-persistent-4.4.patch
-    ];
+    # remove broken test
+    postPatch = ''
+      rm -vf src/ZODB/tests/testdocumentation.py
+    '';
 
     propagatedBuildInputs = [
       transaction
@@ -46,6 +44,10 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
       zope_testrunner
     ];
 
+    checkPhase = ''
+      ${python.interpreter} -m zope.testrunner --test-path=src []
+    '';
+
     meta = with stdenv.lib; {
       description = "Zope Object Database: object database and persistence";
       homepage = https://pypi.python.org/pypi/ZODB;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/fix-tests-with-persistent-4.4.patch b/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/fix-tests-with-persistent-4.4.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 57946dd29863..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zodb/fix-tests-with-persistent-4.4.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-From 2d0ae7199501795617a82a32bafe19b4b5ae89c3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
-From: Jason Madden <jamadden@gmail.com>
-Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2018 10:43:19 -0500
-Subject: [PATCH] Fix tests with, and depend on, persistent 4.4.
-
-Fixes #213.
----
- src/ZODB/tests/util.py | 5 +++++
- 3 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
-
-diff --git a/src/ZODB/tests/util.py b/src/ZODB/tests/util.py
-index 4ffde92c1..e9bf547fa 100644
---- a/src/ZODB/tests/util.py
-+++ b/src/ZODB/tests/util.py
-@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@
-      r"\1"),
-     (re.compile('b(".*?")'),
-      r"\1"),
-+    # Persistent 4.4 changes the repr of persistent subclasses,
-+    # and it is slightly different with the C extension and
-+    # pure-Python module
-+    (re.compile('ZODB.tests.testcrossdatabasereferences.'),
-+     ''),
-     # Python 3 adds module name to exceptions.
-     (re.compile("ZODB.interfaces.BlobError"),
-      r"BlobError"),