diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/swi-prolog/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/swi-prolog/default.nix
index 1aea771e4996..97b4a627540c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/swi-prolog/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/swi-prolog/default.nix
@@ -1,22 +1,30 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, jdk, gmp, readline, openssl, libjpeg, unixODBC, zlib
+{ stdenv, fetchgit, jdk, gmp, readline, openssl, libjpeg, unixODBC, zlib
 , libXinerama, libarchive, db, pcre, libedit, libossp_uuid, libXft, libXpm
 , libSM, libXt, freetype, pkgconfig, fontconfig, makeWrapper ? stdenv.isDarwin
+, git, cacert, cmake, libyaml
+, extraLibraries ? [ jdk unixODBC libXpm libSM libXt freetype fontconfig ]
+, extraPacks     ? []
 }:
 
 let
-  version = "7.6.4";
+  version = "8.1.4";
+  packInstall = swiplPath: pack:
+    ''${swiplPath}/bin/swipl -g "pack_install(${pack}, [package_directory(\"${swiplPath}/lib/swipl/pack\"), silent(true), interactive(false)])." -t "halt."
+    '';
 in
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "swi-prolog-${version}";
 
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = "http://www.swi-prolog.org/download/stable/src/swipl-${version}.tar.gz";
-    sha256 = "14bq4sqs61maqpnmgy6687jjj0shwc27cpfsqbf056nrssmplg9d";
+  src = fetchgit {
+    url = "https://github.com/SWI-Prolog/swipl-devel";
+    rev = "V${version}";
+    sha256 = "0qxa6f5dypwczxajlf0l736adbjb17cbak3qsh5g04hpv2bxm6dh";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ jdk gmp readline openssl libjpeg unixODBC libXinerama
-    libarchive db pcre libedit libossp_uuid libXft libXpm libSM libXt
-    zlib freetype pkgconfig fontconfig ]
+  buildInputs = [ cacert git cmake gmp readline openssl
+    libarchive libyaml db pcre libedit libossp_uuid
+    zlib pkgconfig ]
+  ++ extraLibraries
   ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin makeWrapper;
 
   hardeningDisable = [ "format" ];
@@ -27,7 +35,20 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     "--enable-shared"
   ];
 
-  buildFlags = "world";
+  installPhase = ''
+    mkdir -p $out
+    mkdir build
+    cd build
+    ${cmake}/bin/cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$out ..
+    cd ../
+    make
+    make install
+    make clean
+    mkdir -p $out/lib/swipl/pack
+  ''
+  + builtins.concatStringsSep "\n"
+  ( builtins.map (packInstall "$out") extraPacks
+  );
 
   # For macOS: still not fixed in upstream: "abort trap 6" when called
   # through symlink, so wrap binary.