diff --git a/gnu/packages/netpbm.scm b/gnu/packages/netpbm.scm
index 0fdcf4ceae..e72cf32e3f 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/netpbm.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/netpbm.scm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
-;;; Copyright © 2013 Andreas Enge <andreas@enge.fr>
+;;; Copyright © 2013, 2015 Andreas Enge <andreas@enge.fr>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -26,26 +26,30 @@
   #:use-module (gnu packages pkg-config)
   #:use-module (gnu packages python)
   #:use-module (gnu packages xml)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu)
   #:use-module ((guix licenses) #:select (gpl2))
   #:use-module (guix packages)
-  #:use-module (guix download)
-  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+  #:use-module (guix svn-download))
 
 (define-public netpbm
   (package
    (name "netpbm")
    (version "10.61.01")
    (source (origin
-            (method url-fetch)
-            ;; The "super-stable" and "stable" versions do not compile
-            ;; with newer libpng; we need the "advanced" version. The tarball
-            ;; on the server is generated by sourceforge from the "advanced"
-            ;; branch of the subversion repository:
-            ;; svn checkout http://netpbm.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/netpbm/advanced netpbm-version
-            (uri (string-append "http://www.multiprecision.org/guix/netpbm-"
-                                version ".tar.xz"))
-            (sha256 (base32
-                     "10nwvxc85kr6vhlhhahagy7s9848bbixl54b0p4ppim4g0dl10jz"))))
+            (method svn-fetch)
+            ;; At the time of first packaging, the "super-stable" and
+            ;; "stable" versions did not compile with newer libpng;
+            ;; we needed the "advanced" version.
+            ;; The currently highest stable version is 10.47.53,
+            ;; the currently highest advanced version is 10.69.4,
+            ;; svn release 2397.
+            ;; To determine the correct release: "svn log version.mk".
+            (uri (svn-reference
+                   (url "http://svn.code.sf.net/p/netpbm/code/advanced")
+                   (revision 1832)))
+            (sha256
+              (base32
+                "1mj1pqq18yj0yb6l24zfjls7axhqmiv0pvcaabl5xvc4a0dm543j"))))
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
    (inputs `(("ghostscript" ,ghostscript)
              ("libjpeg" ,libjpeg)
@@ -64,6 +68,7 @@
        'configure
        (lambda _
         (copy-file "config.mk.in" "config.mk")
+        (chmod "config.mk" #o664)
         (let ((f (open-file "config.mk" "a")))
          (display "CC=gcc\n" f)
          (display "CFLAGS_SHLIB += -fPIC\n" f)