diff --git a/pkgs/tools/compression/xz/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/compression/xz/default.nix
index 37c0c6d1c7e8..0ff349e96e80 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/compression/xz/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/compression/xz/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, enableStatic ? false }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "xz-5.2.4";
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   outputs = [ "bin" "dev" "out" "man" "doc" ];
 
+  configureFlags = stdenv.lib.optional enableStatic "--disable-shared";
+
   doCheck = true;
 
   preCheck = ''