diff --git a/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/default.nix b/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/default.nix
index 3ee8f32da0ce..fb60317172b4 100644
--- a/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/default.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 , which, fetchgit, llvmPackages
 , xkb_switch, rustracerd, fzf
 , python3, boost, icu
+, ycmd
 , Cocoa ? null
 }:
 
@@ -1429,32 +1430,13 @@ rec {
       sha256 = "1bilzzv02ksqv6m44alp32s61scxqqj5cxx1klr70mhm81k2ksb9";
     };
     dependencies = [];
-    buildInputs = [
-      python go cmake
-    ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin Cocoa;
-
-    propagatedBuildInputs = stdenv.lib.optional (!stdenv.isDarwin) rustracerd;
-
-    patches = [
-      ./patches/youcompleteme/2-ycm-cmake.patch
-    ];
-
-    # YCM requires path to external libclang 3.9
-    # For explicit use and as env variable for ../third_party/ycmd/build.py
-    EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS="-DEXTERNAL_LIBCLANG_PATH=${llvmPackages.clang.cc}/lib/libclang.${if stdenv.isDarwin then "dylib" else "so"}";
-
     buildPhase = ''
-      patchShebangs .
       substituteInPlace plugin/youcompleteme.vim \
-        --replace "'ycm_path_to_python_interpreter', '''" "'ycm_path_to_python_interpreter', '${python}/bin/python'"
+        --replace "'ycm_path_to_python_interpreter', '''" \
+                  "'ycm_path_to_python_interpreter', '${python}/bin/python'"
 
-      mkdir build
-      pushd build
-      cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" . ../third_party/ycmd/cpp -DPYTHON_LIBRARIES:PATH=${python}/lib/libpython2.7.so -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR:PATH=${python}/include/python2.7 -DUSE_CLANG_COMPLETER=ON \
-        $EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS
-      make ycm_core -j''${NIX_BUILD_CORES} -l''${NIX_BUILD_CORES}}
-      ${python}/bin/python ../third_party/ycmd/build.py --gocode-completer --clang-completer
-      popd
+      rm -r third_party/ycmd
+      ln -s ${ycmd}/lib/ycmd third_party
     '';
 
     meta = {
diff --git a/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/patches/youcompleteme/2-ycm-cmake.patch b/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/patches/youcompleteme/2-ycm-cmake.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index a1c4b1b39a46..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/patches/youcompleteme/2-ycm-cmake.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,36 +0,0 @@
---- ./third_party/ycmd/cpp/ycm/CMakeLists.txt
-+++ ./third_party/ycmd/cpp/ycm/CMakeLists.txt
-@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@
-       COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy "${LIBCLANG_TARGET}" "$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:${PROJECT_NAME}>"
-     )
- 
--    if( APPLE )
-+  #if( APPLE )
-       # In OS X El Capitan, Apple introduced System Integrity Protection.
-       # Amongst other things, this introduces features to the dynamic loader
-       # (dyld) which cause it to "sanitise" (and complain about) embedded
-@@ -354,15 +354,15 @@
-       # simply strip the rpath entry from the dylib.  There's no way any
-       # @executable_path that python might have could be in any way useful to
-       # libclang.dylib, so this seems perfectly safe.
--      get_filename_component( LIBCLANG_TAIL ${LIBCLANG_TARGET} NAME )
--      add_custom_command( TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME}
--                          POST_BUILD
--                          COMMAND install_name_tool
--                          "-delete_rpath"
--                          "@executable_path/../lib"
--                          "$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:${PROJECT_NAME}>/${LIBCLANG_TAIL}"
--                        )
--    endif()
-+      #    get_filename_component( LIBCLANG_TAIL ${LIBCLANG_TARGET} NAME )
-+      #add_custom_command( TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME}
-+      #                    POST_BUILD
-+      #                    COMMAND install_name_tool
-+      #                    "-delete_rpath"
-+      #                    "@executable_path/../lib"
-+      #                    "$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:${PROJECT_NAME}>/${LIBCLANG_TAIL}"
-+      #                  )
-+      # endif()
-   endif()
- endif()
- 
diff --git a/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/vim2nix/additional-nix-code/youcompleteme b/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/vim2nix/additional-nix-code/youcompleteme
index 8da267837fb7..d61fdff0f08d 100644
--- a/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/vim2nix/additional-nix-code/youcompleteme
+++ b/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/vim2nix/additional-nix-code/youcompleteme
@@ -1,29 +1,10 @@
-    buildInputs = [
-      python go cmake
-    ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin Cocoa;
-
-    propagatedBuildInputs = stdenv.lib.optional (!stdenv.isDarwin) rustracerd;
-
-    patches = [
-      ./patches/youcompleteme/2-ycm-cmake.patch
-    ];
-
-    # YCM requires path to external libclang 3.9
-    # For explicit use and as env variable for ../third_party/ycmd/build.py
-    EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS="-DEXTERNAL_LIBCLANG_PATH=${llvmPackages.clang.cc}/lib/libclang.${if stdenv.isDarwin then "dylib" else "so"}";
-
     buildPhase = ''
-      patchShebangs .
       substituteInPlace plugin/youcompleteme.vim \
-        --replace "'ycm_path_to_python_interpreter', '''" "'ycm_path_to_python_interpreter', '${python}/bin/python'"
+        --replace "'ycm_path_to_python_interpreter', '''" \
+                  "'ycm_path_to_python_interpreter', '${python}/bin/python'"
 
-      mkdir build
-      pushd build
-      cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" . ../third_party/ycmd/cpp -DPYTHON_LIBRARIES:PATH=${python}/lib/libpython2.7.so -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR:PATH=${python}/include/python2.7 -DUSE_CLANG_COMPLETER=ON \
-        $EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS
-      make ycm_core -j''${NIX_BUILD_CORES} -l''${NIX_BUILD_CORES}}
-      ${python}/bin/python ../third_party/ycmd/build.py --gocode-completer --clang-completer
-      popd
+      rm -r third_party/ycmd
+      ln -s ${ycmd}/lib/ycmd third_party
     '';
 
     meta = {