diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/release/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/release/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6156dd2933a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/release/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{pkgs}:
+
+with pkgs;
+
+rec {
+
+  makeSourceTarball = args: import ./make-source-tarball.nix
+    ({inherit stdenv autoconf automake libtool;} // args);
+
+  nixBuild = args: import ./nix-build.nix (
+    { inherit stdenv;
+      doCoverageAnalysis = false;
+    } // args);
+
+  coverageAnalysis = args: nixBuild (
+    { inherit lcov;
+      doCoverageAnalysis = true;
+    } // args);
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/release/make-source-tarball.nix b/pkgs/build-support/release/make-source-tarball.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b8cf88f517c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/release/make-source-tarball.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+# This function converts an un-Autoconfed source tarball (typically a
+# checkout from a Subversion or CVS repository) into a source tarball
+# by running `autoreconf', `configure' and `make dist'.
+
+args: with args;
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation (
+
+  # First, attributes that can be overriden by the caller (via args):
+  {
+    name = "source-tarball";
+
+    # By default, only configure and build a source distribution.
+    # Some packages can only build a distribution after a general
+    # `make' (or even `make install').
+    dontBuild = true;
+    dontInstall = true;
+    doDist = true;
+
+    # If we do install, install to a dummy location.
+    useTempPrefix = true;
+
+    showBuildStats = true;
+
+    phases = "unpackPhase patchPhase autoconfPhase configurePhase buildPhase installPhase checkPhase distPhase";
+  }
+
+  # Then, the caller-supplied attributes.
+  // args // 
+
+  # And finally, our own stuff.
+  {
+    src = src.path;
+
+    buildInputs =
+      stdenv.lib.optionals (args ? buildInputs) args.buildInputs ++
+      [autoconf automake];
+    
+    postHook = ''
+      ensureDir $out/nix-support
+    '';  
+
+    postUnpack = ''
+      # Set all source files to the current date.  This is because Nix
+      # resets the timestamp on all files to 0 (1/1/1970), which some
+      # people don't like (in particular GNU tar prints harmless but
+      # frightening warnings about it).
+      touch now
+      touch -d "1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC" then
+      find $sourceRoot ! -newer then -print0 | xargs -0r touch --reference now
+      eval "$nextPostUnpack"
+    '';
+
+    nextPostUnpack = if args ? postUnpack then args.postUnpack else "";
+
+    preConfigure = ''
+      # Some packages1 use the file `svn-revision' to construct the
+      # release name.
+      rev="${if src ? rev then toString src.rev else ""}"
+      if test -n "$rev"; then echo "$rev" > svn-revision; fi
+      eval "$nextPreConfigure"
+    '';
+
+    nextPreConfigure = if args ? preConfigure then args.preConfigure else "";
+
+    # Autoconfiscate the sources.
+    autoconfPhase = ''
+      eval "$preAutoconf"
+    
+      if test -f ./bootstrap; then ./bootstrap
+      elif test -f ./bootstrap.sh; then ./bootstrap.sh
+      elif test -f ./reconf; then ./reconf
+      elif test -f ./configure.in || test -f ./configure.ac; then
+          autoreconf --install --force --verbose
+      else
+          echo "No bootstrap, bootstrap.sh, configure.in or configure.ac. Assuming this is not an GNU Autotools package."
+      fi
+    
+      eval "$postAutoconf"
+    '';
+
+    # Cause distPhase to copy tar.bz2 in addition to tar.gz.
+    tarballs = "*.tar.gz *.tar.bz2";
+
+    postDist = ''
+      shopt -s nullglob
+      for i in $out/tarballs/*; do
+        echo "file source-dist $i" >> $out/nix-support/hydra-build-products
+      done
+    ''; # */
+
+    passthru = {inherit src;};
+
+    meta = {
+      description = "Build of a source distribution from a checkout";
+    };
+  
+  }
+
+)
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/release/nix-build.nix b/pkgs/build-support/release/nix-build.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..aa026ac3a57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/release/nix-build.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+# This function builds and tests an Autoconf-style source tarball.
+# The result can be installed normally in an environment (e.g., after
+# making it available through a channel).  If `doCoverageAnalysis' is
+# true, it does an ordinary build from a source tarball, except that
+# it turns on GCC's coverage analysis feature.  It then runs `make
+# check' and produces a coverage analysis report using `lcov'.
+
+args: with args;
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation (
+
+  {
+    name = "nix-build";
+
+    # Also run a `make check'.
+    doCheck = true;
+
+    # When doing coverage analysis, we don't care about the result.
+    dontInstall = doCoverageAnalysis;
+
+    showBuildStats = true;
+
+    lcovFilter = ["/nix/store/*"];
+
+    # Hack - swap checkPhase and installPhase (otherwise Stratego barfs).
+    phases = "unpackPhase patchPhase configurePhase buildPhase installPhase checkPhase fixupPhase distPhase ${if doCoverageAnalysis then "coverageReportPhase" else ""}";
+  }
+
+  // args // 
+
+  {
+    src = src.path;
+
+    postHook = ''
+      ensureDir $out/nix-support
+      echo "$system" > $out/nix-support/system
+
+      if test -z "${toString doCoverageAnalysis}"; then
+          echo "nix-build none $out" >> $out/nix-support/hydra-build-products
+      fi
+
+      # If `src' is the result of a call to `makeSourceTarball', then it
+      # has a subdirectory containing the actual tarball(s).  If there are
+      # multiple tarballs, just pick the first one.
+      echo $src
+      if test -d $src/tarballs; then
+          src=$(ls $src/tarballs/*.tar.bz2 $src/tarballs/*.tar.gz | sort | head -1)
+      fi
+
+      # Hack to compress log files.  Prevents (by pointer hiding!)
+      # unnecessary dependencies.
+      startLogWrite() {
+          # Use process substitution to send the FIFO output to both
+          # stdout and bzip2.
+          bash -c "tee >(bzip2 > \"$1\".bz2) < \"$2\"" &
+          logWriterPid=$!
+      }
+
+      # Set GCC flags for coverage analysis, if desired.
+      if test -n "${toString doCoverageAnalysis}"; then
+          export NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE="-O0 -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage $NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE"
+          export CFLAGS="-O0"
+          export CXXFLAGS="-O0"
+      fi
+
+    ''; # */
+
+
+    # In the report phase, create a coverage analysis report.
+    coverageReportPhase = if doCoverageAnalysis then ''
+      ${args.lcov}/bin/lcov --directory . --capture --output-file app.info
+      set -o noglob
+      ${args.lcov}/bin/lcov --remove app.info $lcovFilter > app2.info
+      set +o noglob
+      mv app2.info app.info
+      mkdir $out/coverage
+      ${args.lcov}/bin/genhtml app.info -o $out/coverage > log
+
+      # Grab the overall coverage percentage for use in release overviews.
+      grep "Overall coverage rate" log | sed 's/^.*(\(.*\)%).*$/\1/' > $out/nix-support/coverage-rate
+
+      echo "report coverage $out/coverage" >> $out/nix-support/hydra-build-products
+    '' else "";
+
+
+    meta = {
+      description = if doCoverageAnalysis then "Coverage analysis" else "Native Nix build";
+    };
+
+  }
+)
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 4ba22e2b872..50819014d09 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -470,6 +470,10 @@ let
     inherit pkgs;
   };
 
+  releaseTools = import ../build-support/release/default.nix {
+    inherit pkgs;
+  };
+
 
   ### TOOLS