diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/common.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/common.nix
index ff9b8b10b18e..ebc700a7f37c 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/common.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/common.nix
@@ -82,8 +82,8 @@ let
     xdg_utils yasm minizip libwebp
     libusb1 re2 zlib
     ffmpeg libxslt libxml2
-    # harfbuzz-icu # in versions over 63 harfbuzz and freetype are being built together
-                   # so we can't build with one from system and other from source
+    # harfbuzz # in versions over 63 harfbuzz and freetype are being built together
+               # so we can't build with one from system and other from source
   ];
 
   # build paths and release info
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/harfbuzz/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/harfbuzz/default.nix
index f75d08022c65..383f7f60f9bf 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/harfbuzz/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/harfbuzz/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, glib, freetype, cairo, libintl
 , icu, graphite2, harfbuzz # The icu variant uses and propagates the non-icu one.
+, ApplicationServices, CoreText
+, withCoreText ? false
 , withIcu ? false # recommended by upstream as default, but most don't needed and it's big
 , withGraphite2 ? true # it is small and major distros do include it
 , python
@@ -27,12 +29,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   outputBin = "dev";
 
   configureFlags = [
-    ( "--with-graphite2=" + (if withGraphite2 then "yes" else "no") ) # not auto-detected by default
-    ( "--with-icu=" +       (if withIcu       then "yes" else "no") )
-  ];
+    # not auto-detected by default
+    "--with-graphite2=${if withGraphite2 then "yes" else "no"}"
+    "--with-icu=${if withIcu then "yes" else "no"}"
+  ]
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional withCoreText "--with-coretext=yes";
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig libintl ];
-  buildInputs = [ glib freetype cairo ]; # recommended by upstream
+
+  buildInputs = [ glib freetype cairo ] # recommended by upstream
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optionals withCoreText [ ApplicationServices CoreText ];
+
   propagatedBuildInputs = []
     ++ optional withGraphite2 graphite2
     ++ optionals withIcu [ icu harfbuzz ];
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tectonic/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tectonic/default.nix
index fa8af0089556..0d082eac4bba 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tectonic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tectonic/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, rustPlatform
-, darwin, fontconfig, harfbuzz-icu, openssl, pkgconfig }:
+, darwin, fontconfig, harfbuzz, openssl, pkgconfig }:
 
 rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
   name = "tectonic-${version}";
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
 
-  buildInputs = [ fontconfig harfbuzz-icu openssl ]
+  buildInputs = [ fontconfig harfbuzz openssl ]
     ++ stdenv.lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin (with darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks; [ ApplicationServices Cocoa Foundation ]);
 
   # tests fail due to read-only nix store
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 77e3047c20b7..30d6647aa28e 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -9769,13 +9769,14 @@ with pkgs;
   };
   libheimdal = heimdal.override { type = "lib"; };
 
-  harfbuzz = callPackage ../development/libraries/harfbuzz { };
-  harfbuzz-icu = harfbuzz.override {
-    withIcu = true;
-    withGraphite2 = true;
+  harfbuzz = callPackage ../development/libraries/harfbuzz {
+    inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) ApplicationServices CoreText;
   };
-  harfbuzz-icu-58 = harfbuzz-icu.override {
-    icu = icu58;
+
+  harfbuzzFull = harfbuzz.override {
+    withCoreText = stdenv.isDarwin;
+    withGraphite2 = true;
+    withIcu = true;
   };
 
   hawknl = callPackage ../development/libraries/hawknl { };
@@ -11574,7 +11575,7 @@ with pkgs;
       inherit stdenv fetchurl makeSetupHook;
       bison = bison2; # error: too few arguments to function 'int yylex(...
       inherit cups;
-      harfbuzz = harfbuzz-icu;
+      harfbuzz = harfbuzzFull;
       inherit libGL;
       inherit perl;
       inherit (gst_all_1) gstreamer gst-plugins-base;
@@ -11588,7 +11589,7 @@ with pkgs;
       inherit stdenv fetchurl makeSetupHook;
       bison = bison2; # error: too few arguments to function 'int yylex(...
       inherit cups;
-      harfbuzz = harfbuzz-icu;
+      harfbuzz = harfbuzzFull;
       inherit libGL;
       inherit perl;
       inherit (gst_all_1) gstreamer gst-plugins-base;
@@ -11603,7 +11604,7 @@ with pkgs;
       inherit stdenv fetchurl fetchFromGitHub makeSetupHook;
       bison = bison2; # error: too few arguments to function 'int yylex(...
       inherit cups;
-      harfbuzz = harfbuzz-icu;
+      harfbuzz = harfbuzzFull;
       inherit libGL;
       inherit perl;
       inherit (gst_all_1) gstreamer gst-plugins-base;
@@ -12123,7 +12124,9 @@ with pkgs;
 
   tecla = callPackage ../development/libraries/tecla { };
 
-  tectonic = callPackage ../tools/typesetting/tectonic { };
+  tectonic = callPackage ../tools/typesetting/tectonic {
+    harfbuzz = harfbuzzFull;
+  };
 
   tepl = callPackage ../development/libraries/tepl { };
 
@@ -12318,13 +12321,15 @@ with pkgs;
   webkitgtk = webkitgtk220x;
 
   webkitgtk24x-gtk3 = callPackage ../development/libraries/webkitgtk/2.4.nix {
-    harfbuzz = harfbuzz-icu-58;
+    harfbuzz = harfbuzzFull.override {
+      icu = icu58;
+    };
     gst-plugins-base = gst_all_1.gst-plugins-base;
     inherit (darwin) libobjc;
   };
 
   webkitgtk220x = callPackage ../development/libraries/webkitgtk/2.20.nix {
-    harfbuzz = harfbuzz-icu;
+    harfbuzz = harfbuzzFull;
     inherit (gst_all_1) gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-bad;
     stdenv = overrideCC stdenv gcc6;
   };