diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/bootstrap.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/bootstrap.nix
index 65fb20aa2603..e645ecb41bd2 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/bootstrap.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/bootstrap.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [ autoconf ];
 
   configurePhase = ''
-    ./configure --prefix=$out --enable-single-host
+    ./configure --prefix=$out
   '';
 
   buildPhase = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/default.nix
index 58b08ebd4fb7..79f57c42c50d 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/default.nix
@@ -1,19 +1,16 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, fetchgit, git, openssl, autoconf, pkgs }:
 
+# TODO: distinct packages for gambit-release and gambit-devel
+
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name    = "gambit-${version}";
-  version = "4.8.8-f3ffeb6";
+  version = "4.8.8-300db59";
   bootstrap = import ./bootstrap.nix ( pkgs );
 
-#  devver  = "4_8_8";
-#  src = fetchurl {
-#    url    = "http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~gambit/download/gambit/v4.8/source/gambit-v${version}-devel.tgz";
-#    sha256 = "0j3ka76cfb007rlcc3nv5p1s6vh31cwp87hwwabawf16vs1jb7bl";
-#  };
   src = fetchgit {
     url = "https://github.com/feeley/gambit.git";
-    rev = "f3ffeb695aeea80c18c1b9ef276b57898c780dca";
-    sha256 = "1lqixsrgk9z2gj6z1nkys0pfd3m5zjxrp3gvqn2wpr9h7hjb8x06";
+    rev = "300db59e1d3b66bcd597f617849df0274d2a4472";
+    sha256 = "1mhy49lasakgvdaswkxasdssik11lx3hfx4h1gs2b6881488ssdp";
   };
 
   buildInputs = [ openssl git autoconf bootstrap ];
@@ -28,6 +25,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       --enable-absolute-shared-libs # Yes, NixOS will want an absolute path, and fix it.
       --enable-poll
       --enable-openssl
+      --enable-default-runtime-options="f8,-8,t8" # Default to UTF-8 for source and all I/O
+      #--enable-debug # Nope: enables plenty of good stuff, but also the costly console.log
 
       #--enable-multiple-versions # Nope, NixOS already does version multiplexing
       #--enable-guide
@@ -49,15 +48,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildPhase = ''
     # Make bootstrap compiler, from release bootstrap
-    mkdir -p boot/wip-compiler &&
-    cp -rp ${bootstrap}/. boot/wip-compiler/. &&
+    mkdir -p boot &&
+    cp -rp ${bootstrap}/. boot/. &&
     chmod -R u+w boot &&
-    cd boot/wip-compiler && \
-    cp ../../gsc/makefile.in ../../gsc/*.scm gsc && \
-    (cd gsc && make bootclean ) &&
-    make bootstrap &&
-    cd ../.. &&
-    cp boot/wip-compiler/gsc/gsc gsc-boot &&
+    cd boot &&
+    cp ../gsc/makefile.in ../gsc/*.scm gsc && # */
+    ./configure &&
+    for i in lib gsi gsc ; do (cd $i ; make ) ; done &&
+    cd .. &&
+    cp boot/gsc/gsc gsc-boot &&
 
     # Now use the bootstrap compiler to build the real thing!
     make -j2 from-scratch
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/gerbil/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/gerbil/default.nix
index 22047b663d04..59cafee3b3a9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/gerbil/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/gerbil/default.nix
@@ -2,23 +2,27 @@
   coreutils, rsync, bash,
   openssl, zlib, sqlite, libxml2, libyaml, libmysql, lmdb, leveldb }:
 
+# TODO: distinct packages for gerbil-release and gerbil-devel
+
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name    = "gerbil-${version}";
 
-  version = "0.12-DEV";
+  version = "0.12-DEV-777-gd855915";
   src = fetchgit {
     url = "https://github.com/vyzo/gerbil.git";
-    rev = "3657b6e940ea248e0b312f276590e38ff68997e7";
-    sha256 = "11ys7082ghkm4yikz4qxmv3jpxcr42jfi0jhjw1mpzbqdg6004w2";
+    rev = "9db6187dc996eec4087f83b86339e7b17bb69bad";
+    sha256 = "1hqmsy77d62dvil3az4vdr0rmwvxhinjl1dbcxzamz2c2kcjv1jg";
   };
 
   buildInputs = [
-    gambit openssl
+    gambit
     coreutils rsync bash
-    zlib openssl zlib sqlite libxml2 libyaml libmysql lmdb leveldb
+    openssl zlib sqlite libxml2 libyaml libmysql lmdb leveldb
   ];
 
   postPatch = ''
+    echo '(define (gerbil-version-string) "v${version}")' > src/gerbil/runtime/gx-version.scm
+
     patchShebangs .
 
     find . -type f -executable -print0 | while IFS= read -r -d ''$'\0' f; do