diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/dvtm/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/dvtm/default.nix
index f973f3d22645..767912ecc454 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/dvtm/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/dvtm/default.nix
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, ncurses }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, ncurses, customConfig ? null }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+
   name = "dvtm-0.15";
 
-  meta = {
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "Dynamic virtual terminal manager";
     homepage = http://www.brain-dump.org/projects/dvtm;
-    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.mit;
-    platfroms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
+    license = licenses.mit;
+    platfroms = platforms.linux;
+    maintainers = [ maintainers.vrthra ];
   };
 
   src = fetchurl {
@@ -15,6 +17,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0475w514b7i3gxk6khy8pfj2gx9l7lv2pwacmq92zn1abv01a84g";
   };
 
+  postPatch = stdenv.lib.optionalString (customConfig != null) ''
+    cp ${builtins.toFile "config.h" customConfig} ./config.h
+  '';
+
   buildInputs = [ ncurses ];
 
   prePatch = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 6737b67a00e6..7b22257c6492 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -1376,7 +1376,11 @@ in
 
   dvgrab = callPackage ../tools/video/dvgrab { };
 
-  dvtm = callPackage ../tools/misc/dvtm { };
+  dvtm = callPackage ../tools/misc/dvtm {
+    # if you prefer a custom config, write the config.h in dvtm.config.h
+    # and enable
+    # customConfig = builtins.readFile ./dvtm.config.h;
+  };
 
   e2tools = callPackage ../tools/filesystems/e2tools { };