diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/builder.sh b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/builder.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 788effe9b24..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/builder.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-source $stdenv/setup
-
-patchConfigure() {
-    # Clear the default library search path.
-    if test "$noSysDirs" = "1"; then
-        echo 'NATIVE_LIB_DIRS=' >> ld/configure.tgt
-    fi
-}
-
-preConfigure=patchConfigure
-
-genericBuild
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
index 52112c17b6c..29cf5074e1c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
@@ -2,12 +2,28 @@
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "binutils-2.18";
-  builder = ./builder.sh;
+  
   src = fetchurl {
     url = mirror://gnu/binutils/binutils-2.18.tar.bz2;
     sha256 = "16zfc7llbjdn69bbdy7kqgg2xa67ypgj7z5qicgwzvghaaj36yj8";
   };
+
+  patches = [
+    # Turn on --enable-new-dtags by default to make the linker set
+    # RUNPATH instead of RPATH on binaries.  This is important because
+    # RUNPATH can be overriden using LD_LIBRARY_PATH at runtime.
+    ./new-dtags.patch
+  ];
+  
   inherit noSysDirs;
+
+  preConfigure = ''
+    # Clear the default library search path.
+    if test "$noSysDirs" = "1"; then
+        echo 'NATIVE_LIB_DIRS=' >> ld/configure.tgt
+    fi
+  '';
+  
   configureFlags = "--disable-werror"; # needed for dietlibc build
 
   meta = {
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/new-dtags.patch b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/new-dtags.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..eea6f8c39d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/new-dtags.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+--- binutils/ld/ldmain.c
++++ binutils/ld/ldmain.c
+@@ -296,6 +296,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
+
+   link_info.allow_undefined_version = TRUE;
+   link_info.keep_memory = TRUE;
++  link_info.new_dtags = TRUE;
+   link_info.combreloc = TRUE;
+   link_info.strip_discarded = TRUE;
+   link_info.callbacks = &link_callbacks;