diff --git a/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/1.2.nix b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/1.2.nix
index 8380a21b2cac..87cb4a11f9ab 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/1.2.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/1.2.nix
@@ -1,52 +1,6 @@
-{ stdenv
-, fetchurl
-, jre
-, python
-, makeWrapper
-, gawk
-, bash
-, getopt
-, procps
-}:
-
-let
+{ callPackage, ... } @ args:
 
+callPackage ./generic.nix (args // {
   version = "1.2.19";
   sha256 = "0zkq3ggpk8ra2siar43vmrn6lmvn902p1g2lrgb46ak1vii6w30w";
-
-in
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "cassandra-${version}";
-
-  src = fetchurl {
-    inherit sha256;
-    url = "mirror://apache/cassandra/${version}/apache-${name}-bin.tar.gz";
-  };
-
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
-
-  installPhase = ''
-    mkdir $out
-    mv * $out
-
-    for cmd in cassandra nodetool sstablekeys sstableloader sstableupgrade
-      do wrapProgram $out/bin/$cmd \
-        --set JAVA_HOME ${jre} \
-        --prefix PATH : ${bash}/bin \
-        --prefix PATH : ${getopt}/bin \
-        --prefix PATH : ${gawk}/bin \
-        --prefix PATH : ${procps}/bin
-    done
-
-    wrapProgram $out/bin/cqlsh --prefix PATH : ${python}/bin
-    '';
-
-  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    homepage = http://cassandra.apache.org/;
-    description = "A massively scalable open source NoSQL database";
-    platforms = platforms.all;
-    license = licenses.asl20;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ bcarrell ];
-  };
-}
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/2.0.nix b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/2.0.nix
index 026ae476691d..68bee0c124ba 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/2.0.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/2.0.nix
@@ -1,52 +1,6 @@
-{ stdenv
-, fetchurl
-, jre
-, python
-, makeWrapper
-, gawk
-, bash
-, getopt
-, procps
-}:
-
-let
+{ callPackage, ... } @ args:
 
+callPackage ./generic.nix (args // {
   version = "2.0.16";
   sha256 = "1fpvgmakmxy1lnygccpc32q53pa36bwy0lqdvb6hsifkxymdw8y5";
-
-in
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "cassandra-${version}";
-
-  src = fetchurl {
-    inherit sha256;
-    url = "mirror://apache/cassandra/${version}/apache-${name}-bin.tar.gz";
-  };
-
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
-
-  installPhase = ''
-    mkdir $out
-    mv * $out
-
-    for cmd in cassandra nodetool sstablekeys sstableloader sstableupgrade
-      do wrapProgram $out/bin/$cmd \
-        --set JAVA_HOME ${jre} \
-        --prefix PATH : ${bash}/bin \
-        --prefix PATH : ${getopt}/bin \
-        --prefix PATH : ${gawk}/bin \
-        --prefix PATH : ${procps}/bin
-    done
-
-    wrapProgram $out/bin/cqlsh --prefix PATH : ${python}/bin
-    '';
-
-  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    homepage = http://cassandra.apache.org/;
-    description = "A massively scalable open source NoSQL database";
-    platforms = platforms.all;
-    license = licenses.asl20;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ nckx rushmorem ];
-  };
-}
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/2.1.nix b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/2.1.nix
index 5e9a57bfe55b..3514ae84350d 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/2.1.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/2.1.nix
@@ -1,52 +1,6 @@
-{ stdenv
-, fetchurl
-, jre
-, python
-, makeWrapper
-, gawk
-, bash
-, getopt
-, procps
-}:
-
-let
+{ callPackage, ... } @ args:
 
+callPackage ./generic.nix (args // {
   version = "2.1.15";
   sha256 = "1yc6r4gmxz9c4zghzn6bz5wswz7dz61w7p4x9s5gqnixfp2mlapp";
-
-in
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "cassandra-${version}";
-
-  src = fetchurl {
-    inherit sha256;
-    url = "mirror://apache/cassandra/${version}/apache-${name}-bin.tar.gz";
-  };
-
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
-
-  installPhase = ''
-    mkdir $out
-    mv * $out
-
-    for cmd in cassandra nodetool sstablekeys sstableloader sstableupgrade
-      do wrapProgram $out/bin/$cmd \
-        --set JAVA_HOME ${jre} \
-        --prefix PATH : ${bash}/bin \
-        --prefix PATH : ${getopt}/bin \
-        --prefix PATH : ${gawk}/bin \
-        --prefix PATH : ${procps}/bin
-    done
-
-    wrapProgram $out/bin/cqlsh --prefix PATH : ${python}/bin
-    '';
-
-  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    homepage = http://cassandra.apache.org/;
-    description = "A massively scalable open source NoSQL database";
-    platforms = platforms.all;
-    license = licenses.asl20;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ nckx rushmorem ];
-  };
-}
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/3.0.nix b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/3.0.nix
index 68c2815ddd3b..b0975c7a93c0 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/3.0.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/3.0.nix
@@ -1,49 +1,6 @@
-{ stdenv
-, fetchurl
-, jre
-, python
-, makeWrapper
-, gawk
-, bash
-, getopt
-, procps
-}:
-
-let
+{ callPackage, ... } @ args:
 
+callPackage ./generic.nix (args // {
   version = "3.0.8";
   sha256 = "02chk8q3pbl0y6rijfk2gbd0p1ani8daypsx9m9ingqkdx8ajljq";
-
-in
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "cassandra-${version}";
-
-  src = fetchurl {
-    inherit sha256;
-    url = "mirror://apache/cassandra/${version}/apache-${name}-bin.tar.gz";
-  };
-
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
-
-  installPhase = ''
-    mkdir $out
-    mv * $out
-
-    for cmd in cassandra nodetool sstableloader sstableupgrade
-      do wrapProgram $out/bin/$cmd \
-        --set JAVA_HOME ${jre} \
-        --prefix PATH : ${stdenv.lib.makeBinPath [ bash getopt gawk procps ]}
-    done
-
-    wrapProgram $out/bin/cqlsh --prefix PATH : ${python}/bin
-    '';
-
-  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    homepage = http://cassandra.apache.org/;
-    description = "A massively scalable open source NoSQL database";
-    platforms = platforms.all;
-    license = licenses.asl20;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ nckx rushmorem ];
-  };
-}
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/generic.nix b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/generic.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5e364ba3e689
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/servers/nosql/cassandra/generic.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, python, makeWrapper, gawk, bash, getopt, procps
+, which, jre, version, sha256, ...
+}:
+
+let
+  libPath = stdenv.lib.makeLibraryPath [ stdenv.cc.cc ];
+  binPath = stdenv.lib.makeBinPath [ bash getopt gawk procps which jre ];
+in
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "cassandra-${version}";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    inherit sha256;
+    url = "mirror://apache/cassandra/${version}/apache-${name}-bin.tar.gz";
+  };
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
+
+  installPhase = ''
+    mkdir $out
+    mv * $out
+    for cmd in bin/cassandra bin/nodetool bin/sstablekeys \
+      bin/sstableloader bin/sstableupgrade \
+      tools/bin/cassandra-stress tools/bin/cassandra-stressd \
+      tools/bin/sstablemetadata tools/bin/sstableofflinerelevel \
+      tools/bin/token-generator tools/bin/sstablelevelreset; do
+
+      # check if file exists because some bin tools don't exist across all
+      # cassandra versions
+      if [ -f $out/$cmd ]; then
+        wrapProgram $out/$cmd \
+          --suffix-each LD_LIBRARY_PATH : ${libPath} \
+          --prefix PATH : ${binPath} \
+          --set JAVA_HOME ${jre}
+      fi
+    done
+
+    wrapProgram $out/bin/cqlsh --prefix PATH : ${python}/bin
+    '';
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    homepage = http://cassandra.apache.org/;
+    description = "A massively scalable open source NoSQL database";
+    platforms = platforms.linux;
+    license = licenses.asl20;
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ nckx rushmorem cransom ];
+  };
+}