diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/jimtcl/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/jimtcl/default.nix
index ed0ddc7da22f..e478ff945472 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/jimtcl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/jimtcl/default.nix
@@ -5,12 +5,15 @@
 , asciidoc
 , pkg-config
 , inetutils
+, tcl
 
 , sqlite
 , readline
 , SDL
 , SDL_gfx
 , openssl
+
+, SDLSupport ? true
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
@@ -27,15 +30,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   nativeBuildInputs = [
     pkg-config
     asciidoc
+    tcl
   ];
 
   buildInputs = [
     sqlite
     readline
+    openssl
+  ] ++ (lib.optionals SDLSupport [
     SDL
     SDL_gfx
-    openssl
-  ];
+  ]);
 
   configureFlags = [
     "--shared"
@@ -44,11 +49,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "--with-ext=binary"
     "--with-ext=sqlite3"
     "--with-ext=readline"
-    "--with-ext=sdl"
     "--with-ext=json"
     "--enable-utf8"
     "--ipv6"
-  ];
+  ] ++ (lib.optional SDLSupport "--with-ext=sdl");
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
@@ -58,6 +62,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     rm tests/exec2.test
     # requires internet access
     rm tests/ssl.test
+    # test fails due to timing in some environments
+    # https://github.com/msteveb/jimtcl/issues/282
+    rm tests/timer.test
   '';
 
   # test posix-1.6 needs the "hostname" command