diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/vxl/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/vxl/default.nix
index 2f169f3f25dd..e181ade4d6c4 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/vxl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/vxl/default.nix
@@ -1,17 +1,18 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, unzip, cmake, libtiff, expat, zlib, libpng, libjpeg }:
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "vxl-1.13.0";
+  name = "vxl-1.17.0";
 
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = mirror://sourceforge/vxl/vxl-1.13.0.zip;
-    sha256 = "05xk9dfkqsznp1dic8rcsdhgdp12bikwx1zpci0w3s20fs8q8nn1";
+    url = mirror://sourceforge/vxl/vxl-1.17.0.zip;
+    sha256 = "1qg7i8h201pa8jljg7vph4rlxk6n5cj9f9gd1hkkmbw6fh44lsxh";
   };
 
   buildInputs = [ cmake unzip libtiff expat zlib libpng libjpeg ];
 
   # BUILD_OUL wants old linux headers for videodev.h, not available
   # in stdenv linux headers
-  cmakeFlags = "-DBUILD_TESTING=OFF -DBUILD_OUL=OFF "
+  # BUILD_BRL fails to find open()
+  cmakeFlags = "-DBUILD_TESTING=OFF -DBUILD_OUL=OFF -DBUILD_BRL=OFF -DBUILD_CONTRIB=OFF "
     + (if stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux" then
       "-DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-fPIC -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-fPIC"
     else