diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/libtree/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/libtree/default.nix
index f852b7ea7ad..141ccc24c36 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/libtree/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/libtree/default.nix
@@ -13,39 +13,25 @@
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "libtree";
-  version = "2.0.0";
+  version = "3.1.0";
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "haampie";
     repo = "libtree";
     rev = "v${version}";
-    sha256 = "sha256-j54fUwMkX4x4MwL8gMraguK9GqQRBjCC+W6ojFnQdHQ=";
+    sha256 = "sha256-C5QlQsBL9Als80Tv13ex2XS5Yj50Ht8eDfGYAtnh/HI=";
   };
 
-  patches = [
-    # add missing include
-    # https://github.com/haampie/libtree/pull/42
-    (fetchpatch {
-      url = "https://github.com/haampie/libtree/commit/219643ff6edcae42c9546b8ba38cfec9d19b034e.patch";
-      sha256 = "sha256-vdFmmBdBiOT3QBcwd3SuiolcaFTFAb88kU1KN8229K0=";
-    })
-  ];
-
-  postPatch = ''
-    substituteInPlace src/main.cpp \
-      --replace "std::string strip = \"strip\";" "std::string strip = \"${binutils}/bin/strip\";" \
-      --replace "std::string chrpath = \"chrpath\";" "std::string chrpath = \"${chrpath}/bin/chrpath\";"
-  '';
-
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
-
   buildInputs = [ cxxopts elfio termcolor ];
 
-  doCheck = true;
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
+  # note: "make check" returns exit code 0 even when the tests fail.
+  # This has been reported upstream:
+  #  https://github.com/haampie/libtree/issues/77
   checkInputs = [ gtest ];
-
-  cmakeFlags = [ "-DLIBTREE_BUILD_TESTS=ON" ];
+  checkTarget = [ "check" ];
+  doCheck = true;
 
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "Tree ldd with an option to bundle dependencies into a single folder";