diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/gems.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/gems.nix
index 6350ae5e6db..68064a43279 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/gems.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/gems.nix
@@ -18,13 +18,13 @@ let
           if oldAttrs ? dontPatch && !(oldAttrs.dontPatch == false || oldAttrs.dontPatch == null) then {}
           else patches."${gem}")
         else drv) gems;
-self = rec {
+selfPre = rec {
   buildRubyGem = callPackage ./gem.nix { inherit ruby rake; };
 
   # import an attrset full of gems, then override badly behaved ones
   importGems = file: args:
     let
-      patches = callPackage ./patches.nix { inherit ruby; gems = builtGems; };
+      patches = callPackage ./patches.nix { inherit ruby; self = builtGems; };
       preBuilt = callPackage file ({ inherit buildRubyGem; self = builtGems; } // args);
       builtGems = self // patchGemsWith preBuilt patches;
     in builtGems;
@@ -115,14 +115,41 @@ self = rec {
     sha256 = "09z0y0d6bks7i0sqvd8szfqj9i1kkj01anzly7shi83b3gxhrq9m";
   };
 
+  libv8 = buildRubyGem {
+    name = "libv8-3.16.14.3";
+    sha256 = "1arjjbmr9zxkyv6pdrihsz1p5cadzmx8308vgfvrhm380ccgridm";
+  };
+
+  mini_portile = buildRubyGem {
+    name = "mini_portile-0.6.0";
+    sha256 = "09kcn4g63xrdirgwxgjikqg976rr723bkc9bxfr29pk22cj3wavn";
+  };
+
+  nokogiri = buildRubyGem {
+    name = "nokogiri-1.6.3.1";
+    sha256 = "11958hlfd8i3i9y0wk1b6ck9x0j95l4zdbbixmdnnh1r8ijilxli";
+    gemPath = [ mini_portile ];
+  };
+
   pg = buildRubyGem {
     name = "pg-0.17.1";
     sha256 = "19hhlq5cp0cgm9b8daxjn8rkk8fq7bxxv1gd43l2hk0qgy7kx4z7";
   };
+
+  ref = buildRubyGem {
+    name = "ref-1.0.5";
+    sha256 = "19qgpsfszwc2sfh6wixgky5agn831qq8ap854i1jqqhy1zsci3la";
+  };
+
+  therubyracer = buildRubyGem {
+    name = "therubyracer-0.12.1";
+    sha256 = "106fqimqyaalh7p6czbl5m2j69z8gv7cm10mjb8bbb2p2vlmqmi6";
+    gemPath = [ self.libv8 self.ref ];
+  };
 };
   # TODO: refactor mutual recursion here
   # it looks a lot like the importGems function above, but it's too late at night
   # to write a more generic version
-  boringPatches = callPackage ./patches.nix { inherit ruby; gems = patchedSelf; };
-  patchedSelf = patchGemsWith self boringPatches;
-in patchedSelf
+  boringPatches = callPackage ./patches.nix { inherit ruby self; };
+  self = patchGemsWith selfPre boringPatches;
+in self
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/patches.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/patches.nix
index 5fb5432834f..ff0a9ab394c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/patches.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/ruby/patches.nix
@@ -3,9 +3,8 @@
 # gems in here generally involve native extensions; there's no way to tell
 # based on the gemfile
 
-{ fetchurl, writeScript, ruby, ncurses, sqlite, libxml2, libxslt, libffi
-, zlib, libuuid, gems, jdk, python, stdenv, libiconvOrEmpty, imagemagick
-, gnumake, pkgconfig, which, postgresql, v8_3_16_14, clang }:
+{ libxml2, libxslt, postgresql, python, ruby, self, v8_3_16_14, which, writeScript
+, stdenv }:
 
 let
   v8 = v8_3_16_14;
@@ -39,11 +38,8 @@ in
 
   therubyracer = {
     preBuild = ''
-      addToSearchPath RUBYLIB "${gems.libv8}/${ruby.gemPath}/gems/libv8-3.16.14.3/lib"
-      addToSearchPath RUBYLIB "${gems.libv8}/${ruby.gemPath}/gems/libv8-3.16.14.3/ext"
-      ln -s ${clang}/bin/clang $TMPDIR/gcc
-      ln -s ${clang}/bin/clang++ $TMPDIR/g++
-      export PATH=$TMPDIR:$PATH
+      addToSearchPath RUBYLIB "${self.libv8}/${ruby.gemPath}/gems/libv8-3.16.14.3/lib"
+      addToSearchPath RUBYLIB "${self.libv8}/${ruby.gemPath}/gems/libv8-3.16.14.3/ext"
     '';
 
     postInstall = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''