diff --git a/pkgs/tools/graphics/ploticus/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/graphics/ploticus/default.nix
index 650d2ba9d3a4..5edba3df0688 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/graphics/ploticus/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/graphics/ploticus/default.nix
@@ -1,15 +1,30 @@
 {stdenv, fetchurl, zlib, libX11, libpng}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "ploticus-2.33";
+  name = "ploticus-2.40";
 
   builder = ./builder.sh;
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = mirror://sourceforge/ploticus/pl233src.tar.gz;
-    md5 = "1e242200e7e52f7a24041c95f58f2fc1";
+    url = mirror://sourceforge/ploticus/pl240src.tar.gz;
+    sha256 = "1gwppsmfxajrpidjrplkhvq2yy35r9hmigpwjmjqv4r7dj7cnrw8";
   };
 
   buildInputs = [zlib libX11 libpng];
 
   patches = [./ploticus-install.patch];
+
+  meta = {
+    description = ''Ploticus, a non-interactive software package for
+                    producing plots and charts'';
+
+    longDescription = ''Ploticus is a free, GPL'd, non-interactive
+      software package for producing plots, charts, and graphics from
+      data.  Ploticus is good for automated or just-in-time graph
+      generation, handles date and time data nicely, and has basic
+      statistical capabilities.  It allows significant user control
+      over colors, styles, options and details.'';
+
+    license = "GPL";
+    homepage = http://ploticus.sourceforge.net/;
+  };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/graphics/ploticus/ploticus-install.patch b/pkgs/tools/graphics/ploticus/ploticus-install.patch
index 5bf32bcf76d6..04edbc709d0a 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/graphics/ploticus/ploticus-install.patch
+++ b/pkgs/tools/graphics/ploticus/ploticus-install.patch
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
-diff -ruN pl233src/src/Makefile pl233src.new/src/Makefile
---- pl233src/src/Makefile	2006-06-02 17:31:46.000000000 +0200
-+++ pl233src.new/src/Makefile	2006-08-23 18:05:50.000000000 +0200
-@@ -190,7 +190,8 @@
+--- pl240src/src/Makefile	2008-01-15 21:05:14.000000000 +0100
++++ pl240src/src/Makefile	2008-03-26 23:51:53.000000000 +0100
+@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ ZFLAG = -DWZ
  
  
- #### If you plan to do a "make install", where do you want the executable(s) to be moved to?
--BIN = /usr/local/bin
-+#BIN = /usr/local/bin
-+BIN = $(out)/bin
+ #### If you do a "make install", where do you want the executable(s) to be moved to?
+-INSTALLBIN = /usr/local/bin
++INSTALLBIN = $(out)/bin
  
  
- #### To set a hard-coded directory for prefabs files, uncomment & edit the following.. 
+ #### For LOCALE support (non-roman alphabets & collation), uncomment the following..
+