diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.56.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.56.nix
index 18c86921a9d8..aff1542a64ed 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.56.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.56.nix
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ let
   withToolset = stdenv.lib.optionalString (toolset != null) "--with-toolset=${toolset}";
 
   genericB2Flags = [
-    "--prefix=$dev"
+    "--includedir=$dev/include"
     "--libdir=$lib/lib"
     "-j$NIX_BUILD_CORES"
     "--layout=${layout}"
@@ -86,11 +86,11 @@ let
 
     # Create a derivation which encompasses everything, making buildInputs nicer
     mkdir -p $out/nix-support
-    echo $dev >> $out/nix-support/propagated-build-inputs
-    echo $lib >> $out/nix-support/propagated-build-inputs
+    echo "$dev $lib" > $out/nix-support/propagated-native-build-inputs
   '';
 
   commonConfigureFlags = [
+    "--includedir=$(dev)/include"
     "--libdir=$(lib)/lib"
   ];
 in
@@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sha256 = "07gz62nj767qzwqm3xjh11znpyph8gcii0cqhnx7wvismyn34iqk";
   };
 
+  preConfigure = ''
+    NIX_LDFLAGS="$(echo $NIX_LDFLAGS | sed "s,$out,$lib,g")"
+  '';
+
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   buildInputs = [ icu expat zlib bzip2 python ]
@@ -139,7 +143,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     # We want to substitute the contents of configureFlags, removing thus the
     # usual --build and --host added on cross building.
     preConfigure = ''
-      export configureFlags="--prefix=$dev --without-icu ${concatStringsSep " " commonConfigureFlags}"
+      export configureFlags="--without-icu ${concatStringsSep " " commonConfigureFlags}"
       set -x
       cat << EOF > user-config.jam
       using gcc : cross : $crossConfig-g++ ;