diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/wg/wget/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/wg/wget/package.nix
index 6b625571dc12..e96bcd22fd8b 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/wg/wget/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/wg/wget/package.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 { lib, stdenv, fetchurl, gettext, pkg-config, perlPackages
 , libidn2, zlib, pcre, libuuid, libiconv, libintl
-, python3, lzip, darwin
+, nukeReferences, python3, lzip, darwin
 , withLibpsl ? false, libpsl
 , withOpenssl ? true, openssl
 }:
@@ -14,15 +14,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     hash = "sha256-GSJcx1awoIj8gRSNxqQKDI8ymvf9hIPxx7L+UPTgih8=";
   };
 
-  patches = [
-    ./remove-runtime-dep-on-openssl-headers.patch
-  ];
-
   preConfigure = ''
     patchShebangs doc
   '';
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ gettext pkg-config perlPackages.perl lzip libiconv libintl ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ gettext pkg-config perlPackages.perl lzip libiconv libintl nukeReferences ];
   buildInputs = [ libidn2 zlib pcre libuuid ]
     ++ lib.optional withOpenssl openssl
     ++ lib.optional withLibpsl libpsl
@@ -35,6 +31,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "--without-included-regex"
   ];
 
+  preBuild = ''
+    # avoid runtime references to build-only depends
+    make -C src version.c
+    nuke-refs src/version.c
+  '';
+
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   __darwinAllowLocalNetworking = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/wg/wget/remove-runtime-dep-on-openssl-headers.patch b/pkgs/by-name/wg/wget/remove-runtime-dep-on-openssl-headers.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index a6a1fcfcb37b..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/by-name/wg/wget/remove-runtime-dep-on-openssl-headers.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-diff --git a/src/Makefile.in b/src/Makefile.in
-index 1a36a9b..e279c84 100644
---- a/src/Makefile.in
-+++ b/src/Makefile.in
-@@ -2211,10 +2211,9 @@ version.c:  $(wget_SOURCES) ../lib/libgnu.a
- 	echo '' >> $@
- 	echo '#include "version.h"' >> $@
- 	echo 'const char *version_string = "@VERSION@";' >> $@
--	echo 'const char *compilation_string = "'$(COMPILE)'";' \
-+	echo 'const char *compilation_string = 0;' \
- 	    | $(ESCAPEQUOTE) >> $@
--	echo 'const char *link_string = "'$(CCLD) $(AM_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) \
--	$(AM_LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) $(LIBS) $(wget_LDADD)'";' \
-+	echo 'const char *link_string = 0;' \
- 	    | $(ESCAPEQUOTE) >> $@
- 
- css.c: $(srcdir)/css.l