diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/fetchgitlab/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/fetchgitlab/default.nix
index 77512510a7c6..5b9dbd71c595 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/fetchgitlab/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/fetchgitlab/default.nix
@@ -1,22 +1,26 @@
-{ fetchzip, lib }:
+{ fetchgit, fetchzip, lib }:
 
 # gitlab example
 { owner, repo, rev, domain ? "gitlab.com", name ? "source", group ? null
+, fetchSubmodules ? false, leaveDotGit ? false, deepClone ? false
 , ... # For hash agility
 } @ args:
 
-with lib;
-
 let
-  slug = concatStringsSep "/"
-    ((optional (group != null) group) ++ [ owner repo ]);
+  slug = lib.concatStringsSep "/" ((lib.optional (group != null) group) ++ [ owner repo ]);
+  escapedSlug = lib.replaceStrings [ "." "/" ] [ "%2E" "%2F" ] slug;
+  escapedRev = lib.replaceStrings [ "+" "%" "/" ] [ "%2B" "%25" "%2F" ] rev;
+  passthruAttrs = removeAttrs args [ "domain" "owner" "group" "repo" "rev" ];
 
-  escapedSlug = replaceStrings ["." "/"] ["%2E" "%2F"] slug;
-  escapedRev = replaceStrings ["+" "%" "/"] ["%2B" "%25" "%2F"] rev;
+  useFetchGit = deepClone || fetchSubmodules || leaveDotGit;
+  fetcher = if useFetchGit then fetchgit else fetchzip;
+
+  fetcherArgs = (if useFetchGit then {
+    inherit rev deepClone fetchSubmodules leaveDotGit;
+    url = "https://${domain}/${slug}.git";
+  } else {
+    url = "https://${domain}/api/v4/projects/${escapedSlug}/repository/archive.tar.gz?sha=${escapedRev}";
+  }) // passthruAttrs // { inherit name; };
 in
 
-fetchzip ({
-  inherit name;
-  url = "https://${domain}/api/v4/projects/${escapedSlug}/repository/archive.tar.gz?sha=${escapedRev}";
-  meta.homepage = "https://${domain}/${slug}/";
-} // removeAttrs args [ "domain" "owner" "group" "repo" "rev" ]) // { inherit rev; }
+fetcher fetcherArgs // { meta.homepage = "https://${domain}/${slug}/"; inherit rev; }