diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/crypto++/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/crypto++/default.nix
index 053937f1c56d..788d488659af 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/crypto++/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/crypto++/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ fetchurl, stdenv, unzip, libtool }:
+{ fetchurl, stdenv, unzip }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "crypto++-5.6.2";
@@ -8,45 +8,38 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0x1mqpz1v071cfrw4grbw7z734cxnpry1qh2b6rsmcx6nkyd5gsw";
   };
 
-  patches = (stdenv.lib.optional (stdenv.system != "i686-cygwin") ./dll.patch)
-            ++ (stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin ./GNUmakefile.patch);
+  patches = with stdenv;
+    lib.optional (system != "i686-cygwin") ./dll.patch
+    ++ lib.optional isDarwin ./GNUmakefile.patch;
 
-  buildInputs = [ unzip libtool ];
+  buildInputs = [ unzip ];
 
-  # Unpack the thing in a subdirectory.
-  unpackPhase = ''
-    echo "unpacking Crypto++ to \`${name}' from \`$PWD'..."
-    mkdir "${name}" && (cd "${name}" && unzip "$src")
-    sourceRoot="$PWD/${name}"
-  '';
+  sourceRoot = ".";
 
-  cxxflags = if stdenv.isi686 then "-march=i686" else
-             if stdenv.isx86_64 then "-march=nocona -fPIC" else
-             "";
+  configurePhase = let
+    marchflags =
+      if stdenv.isi686 then "-march=i686" else
+      if stdenv.isx86_64 then "-march=nocona -mtune=generic" else
+      "";
+    in
+    ''
+      sed -i GNUmakefile \
+        -e 's|-march=native|${marchflags} -fPIC|g' \
+        -e 's|-mtune=native||g' \
+        -e '/^CXXFLAGS =/s|-g ||'
+    '';
 
-  configurePhase = ''
-    sed -i GNUmakefile \
-      -e 's|-march=native|${cxxflags}|g' \
-      -e 's|-mtune=native||g' \
-      -e '/^CXXFLAGS =/s|-g -O2|-O3|'
-  '';
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  # I add what 'enableParallelBuilding' would add to the make call,
-  # if we were using the generic build phase.
-  buildPhase = ''
-    make PREFIX="$out" all libcryptopp.so -j$NIX_BUILD_CORES -l$NIX_BUILD_CORES
-  '';
-
-  # TODO: Installing cryptotest.exe doesn't seem to be necessary. We run
-  # that binary during this build anyway to verify everything works.
-  installPhase = ''
-    mkdir "$out"
-    make install PREFIX="$out"
-  '';
+  makeFlags = "PREFIX=$(out)";
+  buildFlags = "libcryptopp.so";
 
   doCheck = true;
   checkPhase = "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd` make test";
 
+  # prefer -fPIC and .so to .a; cryptotest.exe seems superfluous
+  postInstall = ''rm "$out"/lib/*.a -r "$out/bin" '';
+
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "Crypto++, a free C++ class library of cryptographic schemes";
     homepage = http://cryptopp.com/;
@@ -55,3 +48,4 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     maintainers = [ ];
   };
 }
+