diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 0d84b62cf26..7d093d00514 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -2250,6 +2250,7 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/remake-impure-dirs.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/restartd-update-robust.patch             \
   %D%/packages/patches/restic-0.9.6-fix-tests-for-go1.15.patch	\
+  %D%/packages/patches/rlwrap-no-rbgen.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/rng-tools-revert-build-randstat.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/rocclr-5.6.0-enable-gfx800.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/rocm-opencl-runtime-4.3-noclinfo.patch 	\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/rlwrap-no-rbgen.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/rlwrap-no-rbgen.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..32d7d418266
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/rlwrap-no-rbgen.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+Do not regenerate the completion.c file, a generated version is included
+in the repository itself. Generating it requires packaging a modified
+version of libredblack. Removing this Makefile rule ensure that the file
+is never regenerated.
+
+---
+ src/Makefile.am | 10 ----------
+ 1 file changed, 10 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
+index 43a6755..1ac59d5 100644
+--- a/src/Makefile.am
++++ b/src/Makefile.am
+@@ -4,13 +4,3 @@ rlwrap_SOURCES =  main.c signals.c readline.c pty.c completion.c term.c ptytty.c
+ 
+ 
+ AM_CFLAGS=-DDATADIR=\"@datadir@\" 
+-
+-# use old-fashioned suffix rule for non-GNU make
+-.rb.c :
+-	rbgen $< $@
+-
+-.rb.c:
+-   @[ $$? != 127 ] ||  echo "You don't seem to have rbgen (http://libredblack.sourceforge.net/). If you didn't change any .rb files, this is not a problem"   
+- 
+-
+-
diff --git a/gnu/packages/readline.scm b/gnu/packages/readline.scm
index f506e763983..e82ddca9202 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/readline.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/readline.scm
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
   #:use-module (gnu packages autotools)
   #:use-module (gnu packages ncurses)
   #:use-module (gnu packages perl)
+  #:use-module (gnu packages terminals)
   #:use-module (guix packages)
   #:use-module (guix gexp)
   #:use-module (guix download)
@@ -163,7 +164,7 @@ comfortable for anyone.")
 (define-public rlwrap
   (package
     (name "rlwrap")
-    (version "0.46.2")
+    (version "0.48")
     (source
      (origin
        (method git-fetch)
@@ -172,12 +173,13 @@ comfortable for anyone.")
              (commit (string-append "v" version))))
        (file-name (git-file-name name version))
        (sha256
-        (base32 "0mp3rhq8qifj0gr31qi5sh10ixlpvqv3vi4miaf61v1xiphvd6nk"))))
+        (base32 "13iqss291sapivryix91ri62ws4v4n2mz2gf68cm2i6avy734f2b"))
+       (patches (search-patches "rlwrap-no-rbgen.patch"))))
     (build-system gnu-build-system)
     (native-inputs
      (list autoconf automake perl))
     (inputs
-     (list readline))
+     (list readline libptytty))
     (synopsis "Wrapper to allow the editing of keyboard commands")
     (description
      "Rlwrap is a 'readline wrapper', a small utility that uses the GNU