diff --git a/gnu/packages/tex.scm b/gnu/packages/tex.scm
index 89f60f89d5..a7a0a8b3ab 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/tex.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/tex.scm
@@ -4049,25 +4049,35 @@ (define-public texlive-generic-babel-english
 for Canadian and USA text.")
     (license license:lppl1.3+)))
 
-(define-public texlive-generic-babel-french
-  (package
-    (name "texlive-generic-babel-french")
-    (version (number->string %texlive-revision))
-    (source
-     (origin
-       (method svn-fetch)
-       (uri (texlive-ref "generic" "babel-french"))
-       (file-name (string-append name "-" version "-checkout"))
-       (sha256
-        (base32 "0ww8bkbccacdyp2y3p2m1y49zxx5pyh7dyyyyfmlzfm6w9rz0g1g"))))
-    (build-system texlive-build-system)
-    (arguments '(#:tex-directory "generic/babel-french"))
-    (home-page "https://www.ctan.org/pkg/babel-french")
-    (synopsis "Babel support for French")
-    (description
-     "This package provides support for the French language for the
-babel multilingual system.")
-    (license license:lppl1.3+)))
+(define-public texlive-babel-french
+  (let ((template
+         (simple-texlive-package
+          "texlive-babel-french"
+          (list "doc/generic/babel-french/"
+                "source/generic/babel-french/"
+                "tex/generic/babel-french/")
+          (base32 "0cgn4dq5wnlfh9wddjzxsf7p56pk29lyndg56zg6558y7xf67cw8"))))
+    (package
+      (inherit template)
+      (arguments
+       (substitute-keyword-arguments (package-arguments template)
+         ((#:tex-directory _ '())
+          "generic/babel-french")
+         ((#:build-targets _ '())
+          ''("frenchb.ins"))           ; TODO: use dtx and build documentation
+         ((#:phases phases)
+          `(modify-phases ,phases
+             (add-after 'unpack 'chdir
+               (lambda _ (chdir "source/generic/babel-french")))))))
+      (home-page "https://ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/babel-contrib/french")
+      (synopsis "Babel contributed support for French")
+      (description
+       "The package, formerly known as frenchb, establishes French conventions
+in a document (or a subset of the conventions, if French is not the main
+language of the document).")
+      (license license:lppl1.3+))))
+
+(define-deprecated-package texlive-generic-babel-french texlive-babel-french)
 
 (define-public texlive-generic-babel-german
   (package