diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/default.nix
index fcd884f0a419..15a89761340e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/default.nix
@@ -1,22 +1,60 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, unzip }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, unzip, jre }:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "saxon-6.5.3";
-  builder = ./unzip-builder.sh;
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = mirror://sourceforge/saxon/saxon6_5_3.zip;
-    sha256 = "0l5y3y2z4wqgh80f26dwwxwncs8v3nkz3nidv14z024lmk730vs3";
+let
+  common = { pname, version, src, description
+           , prog ? null, jar ? null, license ? stdenv.lib.licenses.mpl20 }:
+    stdenv.mkDerivation {
+      name = "${pname}-${version}";
+      inherit pname version src;
+
+      nativeBuildInputs = [ unzip ];
+
+      buildCommand = let
+        prog' = if prog == null then pname else prog;
+        jar' = if jar == null then pname else jar;
+      in ''
+        unzip $src -d $out
+        mkdir -p $out/bin $out/share $out/share/java
+        cp -s "$out"/*.jar "$out/share/java/"  # */
+        rm -rf $out/notices
+        mv $out/doc $out/share
+        cat > $out/bin/${prog'} <<EOF
+        #! $shell
+        export JAVA_HOME=${jre}
+        exec ${jre}/bin/java -jar $out/${jar'}.jar "\$@"
+        EOF
+        chmod a+x $out/bin/${prog'}
+      '';
+
+      meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+        inherit description license;
+        homepage = http://saxon.sourceforge.net/;
+        maintainers = with maintainers; [ rvl ];
+        platforms = platforms.all;
+      };
+    };
+
+in {
+  saxon = common {
+    pname = "saxon";
+    version = "6.5.3";
+    src = fetchurl {
+      url = mirror://sourceforge/saxon/saxon6_5_3.zip;
+      sha256 = "0l5y3y2z4wqgh80f26dwwxwncs8v3nkz3nidv14z024lmk730vs3";
+    };
+    description = "XSLT 1.0 processor";
+    # http://saxon.sourceforge.net/saxon6.5.3/conditions.html
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.mpl10;
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ unzip ];
-
-  # still leaving in root as well, in case someone is relying on that
-  preFixup = ''
-    mkdir -p "$out/share/java"
-    cp -s "$out"/*.jar "$out/share/java/"
-  '';
-
-  meta = {
-    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.unix;
+  saxonb = common {
+    pname = "saxonb";
+    version = "8.8";
+    jar = "saxon8";
+    src = fetchurl {
+      url = mirror://sourceforge/saxon/saxonb8-8j.zip;
+      sha256 = "15bzrfyd2f1045rsp9dp4znyhmizh1pm97q8ji2bc0b43q23xsb8";
+    };
+    description = "Complete and conformant processor of XSLT 2.0, XQuery 1.0, and XPath 2.0";
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/default8.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/default8.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index 7728737977c2..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/default8.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, unzip, jre}:
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "saxonb-8.8";
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = mirror://sourceforge/saxon/saxonb8-8j.zip;
-    sha256 = "15bzrfyd2f1045rsp9dp4znyhmizh1pm97q8ji2bc0b43q23xsb8";
-  };
-
-  buildInputs = [unzip];
-
-  buildCommand = "
-    unzip $src -d $out
-    mkdir -p $out/bin
-    cat > $out/bin/saxon8 <<EOF
-#! $shell
-export JAVA_HOME=${jre}
-exec ${jre}/bin/java -jar $out/saxon8.jar \"\\$@\"
-EOF
-    chmod a+x $out/bin/saxon8
-  ";
-
-  meta = {
-    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.unix;
-  };
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/unzip-builder.sh b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/unzip-builder.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 8ac35568f0b9..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/saxon/unzip-builder.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-source $stdenv/setup
-
-unzip $src -d $out
-
-fixupPhase
-
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index f549e571abe5..988e298900eb 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -11322,9 +11322,9 @@ with pkgs;
 
   mockobjects = callPackage ../development/libraries/java/mockobjects { };
 
-  saxon = callPackage ../development/libraries/java/saxon { };
-
-  saxonb = callPackage ../development/libraries/java/saxon/default8.nix { };
+  inherit (callPackages ../development/libraries/java/saxon { })
+    saxon
+    saxonb;
 
   smack = callPackage ../development/libraries/java/smack { };