diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ba/babeltrace/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ba/babeltrace/package.nix
index 1ae395ab66d8..2d995df59c91 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ba/babeltrace/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ba/babeltrace/package.nix
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
   libuuid,
   popt,
   elfutils,
+  enablePython ? false,
+  pythonPackages ? null,
+  swig2,
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
@@ -20,15 +23,20 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     sha256 = "Z7Q6qu9clR+nrxpVfPcgGhH+iYdrfCK6CgPLwxbbWpw=";
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [
-    # The pre-generated ./configure script uses an old autoconf version which
-    # breaks cross-compilation (replaces references to malloc with rpl_malloc).
-    # Re-generate with nixpkgs's autoconf. This requires glib to be present in
-    # nativeBuildInputs for its m4 macros to be present.
-    autoreconfHook
-    glib
-    pkg-config
-  ];
+  nativeBuildInputs =
+    [
+      # The pre-generated ./configure script uses an old autoconf version which
+      # breaks cross-compilation (replaces references to malloc with rpl_malloc).
+      # Re-generate with nixpkgs's autoconf. This requires glib to be present in
+      # nativeBuildInputs for its m4 macros to be present.
+      autoreconfHook
+      glib
+      pkg-config
+    ]
+    ++ lib.optionals enablePython [
+      swig2
+      pythonPackages.setuptools
+    ];
   buildInputs = [
     glib
     libuuid
@@ -36,12 +44,21 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     elfutils
   ];
 
-  configureFlags = [
-    # --enable-debug-info (default) requires the configure script to run host
-    # executables to determine the elfutils library version, which cannot be done
-    # while cross compiling.
-    (lib.enableFeature (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform) "debug-info")
-  ];
+  configureFlags =
+    [
+      # --enable-debug-info (default) requires the configure script to run host
+      # executables to determine the elfutils library version, which cannot be done
+      # while cross compiling.
+      (lib.enableFeature (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform) "debug-info")
+    ]
+    ++ lib.optionals enablePython [
+      # Using (lib.enableFeature enablePython "python-bindings") makes the
+      # configure script look for python dependencies even when
+      # enablePython==false. Adding the configure flag conditionally seems to
+      # solve this.
+      "--enable-python-bindings"
+    ];
+  #
 
   passthru.updateScript = gitUpdater {
     url = "https://git.efficios.com/babeltrace.git";
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 928edd66a5f2..d6f074162a26 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -1330,6 +1330,11 @@ self: super: with self; {
 
   babelgladeextractor = callPackage ../development/python-modules/babelgladeextractor { };
 
+  babeltrace = toPythonModule (pkgs.babeltrace.override {
+    pythonPackages = self;
+    enablePython = true;
+  });
+
   bambi = callPackage ../development/python-modules/bambi { };
 
   pad4pi = callPackage ../development/python-modules/pad4pi { };