diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/dropbox/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/dropbox/default.nix
index f212304b96cc..08a4b0dacbd9 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/dropbox/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/dropbox/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, makeDesktopItem, makeWrapper
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, makeDesktopItem, makeWrapper, patchelf
 , dbus_libs, gcc, glib, libdrm, libffi, libICE, libSM
 , libX11, libXmu, ncurses, popt, qt5, zlib
 , qtbase, qtdeclarative, qtwebkit
@@ -33,20 +33,13 @@ let
       "i686-linux" = "x86";
     }."${stdenv.system}" or (throw "system ${stdenv.system} not supported");
 
-  interpreter =
-    {
-      "x86_64-linux" = "ld-linux-x86-64.so.2";
-      "i686-linux" = "ld-linux.so.2";
-    }."${stdenv.system}" or (throw "system ${stdenv.system} not supported");
-
   # relative location where the dropbox libraries are stored
   appdir = "opt/dropbox";
 
   ldpath = stdenv.lib.makeSearchPath "lib"
     [
-      dbus_libs gcc glib libdrm libffi libICE libSM libX11
-      libXmu ncurses popt qtbase qtdeclarative qtwebkit
-      zlib
+      dbus_libs gcc.cc glib libdrm libffi libICE libSM libX11 libXmu
+      ncurses popt qtbase qtdeclarative qtwebkit zlib
     ];
 
   desktopItem = makeDesktopItem {
@@ -59,24 +52,22 @@ let
   };
 
 in stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "dropbox-${version}-bin";
+  name = "dropbox-${version}";
   src = fetchurl {
     name = "dropbox-${version}.tar.gz";
     url = "https://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/dropbox-lnx.${arch}-${version}.tar.gz";
     inherit sha256;
   };
 
-  sourceRoot = ".";
+  sourceRoot = ".dropbox-dist";
 
-  patchPhase = ''
-    rm -f .dropbox-dist/dropboxd
-  '';
-
-  buildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
+  buildInputs = [ makeWrapper patchelf ];
+  dontPatchELF = true; # patchelf invoked explicitly below
+  dontStrip = true; # already done
 
   installPhase = ''
     mkdir -p "$out/${appdir}"
-    cp -r ".dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.${arch}-${version}"/* "$out/${appdir}/"
+    cp -r "dropbox-lnx.${arch}-${version}"/* "$out/${appdir}/"
 
     rm "$out/${appdir}/libdrm.so.2"
     rm "$out/${appdir}/libffi.so.6"
@@ -102,23 +93,56 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
     rm "$out/${appdir}/qt.conf"
     rm -fr "$out/${appdir}/plugins"
 
-    find "$out/${appdir}" -type f -a -perm -0100 \
-      -print -exec patchelf --set-interpreter ${stdenv.glibc}/lib/${interpreter} {} \;
-
-    RPATH=${ldpath}:${gcc.cc}/lib:$out/${appdir}
-    echo "updating rpaths to: $RPATH"
-    find "$out/${appdir}" -type f -a -perm -0100 \
-      -print -exec patchelf --force-rpath --set-rpath "$RPATH" {} \;
-
     mkdir -p "$out/share/applications"
     cp "${desktopItem}/share/applications/"* $out/share/applications
 
-    mkdir -p "$out/bin"
-    makeWrapper "$out/${appdir}/dropbox" "$out/bin/dropbox" \
-      --prefix LD_LIBRARY_PATH : "${ldpath}"
-
     mkdir -p "$out/share/icons"
     ln -s "$out/${appdir}/images/hicolor" "$out/share/icons/hicolor"
+
+    mkdir -p "$out/bin"
+    RPATH="${ldpath}:$out/${appdir}"
+    makeWrapper "$out/${appdir}/dropbox" "$out/bin/dropbox" \
+      --prefix LD_LIBRARY_PATH : "$RPATH"
+  '';
+
+  fixupPhase = ''
+    INTERP=$(cat $NIX_CC/nix-support/dynamic-linker)
+    RPATH="${ldpath}:$out/${appdir}"
+    getType='s/ *Type: *\([A-Z]*\) (.*/\1/'
+    find "$out/${appdir}" -type f -a -perm -0100 -print | while read obj; do
+        dynamic=$(readelf -S "$obj" 2>/dev/null | grep "DYNAMIC" || true)
+
+        if [[ -n "$dynamic" ]]; then
+            type=$(readelf -h "$obj" 2>/dev/null | grep 'Type:' | sed -e "$getType")
+
+            if [[ "$type" == "EXEC" ]]; then
+
+                echo "patching interpreter path in $type $obj"
+                patchelf --set-interpreter "$INTERP" "$obj"
+
+                echo "patching RPATH in $type $obj"
+                oldRPATH=$(patchelf --print-rpath "$obj")
+                patchelf --set-rpath "''${oldRPATH:+$oldRPATH:}$RPATH" "$obj"
+
+                echo "shrinking RPATH in $type $obj"
+                patchelf --shrink-rpath "$obj"
+
+            elif [[ "$type" == "DYN" ]]; then
+
+                echo "patching RPATH in $type $obj"
+                oldRPATH=$(patchelf --print-rpath "$obj")
+                patchelf --set-rpath "''${oldRPATH:+$oldRPATH:}$RPATH" "$obj"
+
+                echo "shrinking RPATH in $type $obj"
+                patchelf --shrink-rpath "$obj"
+
+            else
+
+                echo "unknown ELF type \"$type\"; not patching $obj"
+
+            fi
+        fi
+    done
   '';
 
   meta = {
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 88a50ec81e7e..491e2c469a1f 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -12681,7 +12681,11 @@ let
 
   copy-com = callPackage ../applications/networking/copy-com { };
 
-  dropbox = qt5Libs.callPackage ../applications/networking/dropbox { };
+  dropbox = callPackage ../applications/networking/dropbox {
+    qtbase = qt5.base;
+    qtdeclarative = qt5.declarative;
+    qtwebkit = qt5.webkit;
+  };
 
   dropbox-cli = callPackage ../applications/networking/dropbox-cli { };