diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/cache-arch.patch b/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/cache-arch.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 9677c8fdee35..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/cache-arch.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-Don't invoke "dpkg --print-architecture" for every call to
-Dpkg::Arch::get_raw_build_arch().
-
-diff -ru -x '*~' dpkg-1.16.9/scripts/Dpkg/Arch.pm dpkg-1.16.9-new/scripts/Dpkg/Arch.pm
---- dpkg-1.16.9/scripts/Dpkg/Arch.pm	2012-10-20 06:34:17.000000000 +0200
-+++ dpkg-1.16.9-new/scripts/Dpkg/Arch.pm	2012-12-04 19:42:20.451002537 +0100
-@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
- 	# dpkg-architecture itself, by avoiding computing the DEB_BUILD_
- 	# variables when they are not requested.
- 
--	my $build_arch = `dpkg --print-architecture`;
-+	$build_arch = `dpkg --print-architecture`;
- 	syserr("dpkg --print-architecture failed") if $? >> 8;
- 
- 	chomp $build_arch;
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix
index 8ef32dab95a0..624386f34f27 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix
@@ -1,16 +1,21 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, perl, zlib, bzip2, xz, makeWrapper }:
 
-let version = "1.16.9"; in
+let version = "1.17.25"; in
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "dpkg-${version}";
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "mirror://debian/pool/main/d/dpkg/dpkg_${version}.tar.xz";
-    sha256 = "0ykby9x4x2zb7rfj30lfjcsrq2q32z2lnsrl8pbdvb2l9sx7zkbk";
+    sha256 = "1akblsdfblih7879gi5qagqpgy6zz866kcyvg5y11ywqmqw9s087";
   };
 
-  patches = [ ./cache-arch.patch ];
+  postPatch = ''
+    # dpkg tries to force some dependents like debian_devscripts to use
+    # -fstack-protector-strong - not (yet?) a good idea. Disable for now:
+    substituteInPlace scripts/Dpkg/Vendor/Debian.pm \
+      --replace "stackprotectorstrong => 1" "stackprotectorstrong => 0"
+  '';
 
   configureFlags = "--disable-dselect --with-admindir=/var/lib/dpkg PERL_LIBDIR=$(out)/${perl.libPrefix}";
 
@@ -36,13 +41,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
         if head -n 1 $i | grep -q perl; then
           wrapProgram $i --prefix PERL5LIB : $out/${perl.libPrefix}
         fi
-      done # */
+      done
+
+      mkdir -p $out/etc/dpkg
+      cp -r scripts/t/origins $out/etc/dpkg
     '';
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "The Debian package manager";
     homepage = http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg;
+    license = with licenses; gpl2Plus;
     platforms = platforms.linux;
-    maintainers = [ maintainers.mornfall ];
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ mornfall nckx ];
   };
 }