diff --git a/pkgs/applications/version-management/git-and-tools/git/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/version-management/git-and-tools/git/default.nix
index 1e725a2c60a2..8d4fb7aad74b 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/version-management/git-and-tools/git/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/version-management/git-and-tools/git/default.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 , libxslt, tcl, tk, makeWrapper
 , svnSupport, subversion, perlLibs
 , guiSupport
+, pythonSupport ? true
 }:
 
 # `git-svn' support requires Subversion and various Perl libraries.
@@ -24,7 +25,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
          docbook_xsl docbook_xml_dtd_45 libxslt ]
     ++ stdenv.lib.optionals guiSupport [tcl tk];
 
-  makeFlags = "prefix=\${out} PERL_PATH=${perl}/bin/perl SHELL_PATH=${stdenv.shell} PYTHON_PATH=${python}/bin/python";
+  makeFlags = "prefix=\${out} PERL_PATH=${perl}/bin/perl SHELL_PATH=${stdenv.shell} "
+      + (if pythonSupport then "PYTHON_PATH=${python}/bin/python" else "NO_PYTHON=1");
 
   # FIXME: "make check" requires Sparse; the Makefile must be tweaked
   # so that `SPARSE_FLAGS' corresponds to the current architecture...