diff --git a/doc/stdenv.xml b/doc/stdenv.xml
index 564471bbbbc..d3ee5164bc1 100644
--- a/doc/stdenv.xml
+++ b/doc/stdenv.xml
@@ -1662,6 +1662,18 @@ installTargets = "install-bin install-doc";</programlisting>
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
+    <varlistentry>
+     <term>
+      <varname>dontPruneLibtoolFiles</varname>
+     </term>
+     <listitem>
+      <para>
+       If set, libtool <literal>.la</literal> files associated with shared
+       libraries won't have their <literal>dependency_libs</literal> field
+       cleared.
+      </para>
+     </listitem>
+    </varlistentry>
     <varlistentry>
      <term>
       <varname>forceShare</varname>
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/digitalbitbox/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/digitalbitbox/default.nix
index 939e2e9fc16..0272cfd52c0 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/digitalbitbox/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/digitalbitbox/default.nix
@@ -68,8 +68,6 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ];
 
   buildInputs = [
-    # TODO: remove libcap when pruneLibtoolFiles applies to pulseaudio.
-    libcap
     libevent
     libtool
     udev
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/prune-libtool-files.sh b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/prune-libtool-files.sh
index d75812e05b6..5d7432e8f09 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/prune-libtool-files.sh
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/prune-libtool-files.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 fixupOutputHooks+=(_pruneLibtoolFiles)
 
 _pruneLibtoolFiles() {
-    if [ "$dontPruneLibtoolFiles" ]; then
+    if [ "$dontPruneLibtoolFiles" ] || [ ! -e "$prefix" ]; then
        return
     fi
 
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ _pruneLibtoolFiles() {
     # the "old_library" field for static libraries.  We are processing only
     # those .la files that do not describe static libraries.
     find "$prefix" -type f -name '*.la' \
-         -exec grep -q '^# Generated by libtool' {} \; \
+         -exec grep -q '^# Generated by .*libtool' {} \; \
          -exec grep -q "^old_library=''" {} \; \
          -exec sed -i {} -e "/^dependency_libs='[^']/ c dependency_libs='' #pruned" \;
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/SDL2/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/SDL2/default.nix
index b31a0703a03..d82b25fb892 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/SDL2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/SDL2/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, config, libGLSupported, fetchurl, pkgconfig, pruneLibtoolFiles
+{ stdenv, config, libGLSupported, fetchurl, pkgconfig
 , openglSupport ? libGLSupported, libGL
 , alsaSupport ? stdenv.isLinux, alsaLib
 , x11Support ? !stdenv.isCygwin, libX11, xorgproto, libICE, libXi, libXScrnSaver, libXcursor, libXinerama, libXext, libXxf86vm, libXrandr
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   patches = [ ./find-headers.patch ];
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig pruneLibtoolFiles ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = dlopenPropagatedBuildInputs;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libheif/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libheif/default.nix
index cdc03c01a02..25cee4ef8da 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libheif/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libheif/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, autoreconfHook, pkgconfig, pruneLibtoolFiles, libde265, x265, libpng, libjpeg }:
+{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, autoreconfHook, pkgconfig, libde265, x265, libpng, libjpeg }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   version = "1.3.2";
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0hk8mzig2kp5f94j4jwqxzjrm7ffk16ffvxl92rf0afsh6vgnz7w";
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook pkgconfig pruneLibtoolFiles ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook pkgconfig ];
   buildInputs = [ libde265 x265 libpng libjpeg ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/webkitgtk/2.4.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/webkitgtk/2.4.nix
index 9030149fc8a..04758ace7fa 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/webkitgtk/2.4.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/webkitgtk/2.4.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, fetchpatch, perl, python, ruby, bison, gperf, flex
-, pkgconfig, which, gettext, gobject-introspection, pruneLibtoolFiles
+, pkgconfig, which, gettext, gobject-introspection
 , gtk2, gtk3, wayland, libwebp, enchant, sqlite
 , libxml2, libsoup, libsecret, libxslt, harfbuzz, xorg
 , gst-plugins-base, libobjc
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
     perl python ruby bison gperf flex
-    pkgconfig which gettext gobject-introspection pruneLibtoolFiles
+    pkgconfig which gettext gobject-introspection
   ];
 
   buildInputs = [
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
index fccab8f60ff..04117de3269 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ let
       ../../build-support/setup-hooks/compress-man-pages.sh
       ../../build-support/setup-hooks/strip.sh
       ../../build-support/setup-hooks/patch-shebangs.sh
+      ../../build-support/setup-hooks/prune-libtool-files.sh
     ]
       # FIXME this on Darwin; see
       # https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/94d164dd7#commitcomment-22030369